You're going in a home!
by catlover55
Summary: Kagome is thirty-four, single and perfectly happy. Kagome's mom desperately wants grandchildren. she, against Kagome's wishes throws her in the well. That old hag is going to a nursing home for sure for this business!
1. The clock is ticking

A/N: WHAT??! Another story? You are so irresponsible! I know that you aren't going to keep up with this one either! Are you? Are you? Are you?!!! You never update! Waaahhh!  
  
Kagome sat on the sofa reading a burgundy book with a hard cover. It was another literary classic. Kagome tipped her teeny reading glasses with the small oval lenses up her nose. It was an unconscious sort of twitch. The grandfather clock chimed four o-clock. Kagome's own grandfather was dead. He had been dead for five years at least. The clock was just disturbing enough to cause Kagome to look briefly up from her book.  
  
She saw her mother watching a movie on one of those wussy women's channels. Her mom had gone through three-fourths of the box of tissues. It was evident not from looking in the box itself, but from the sheer volume of the crumpled balls of tissue paper surrounding her. Kagome looked at the television screen. There was a woman kneeling on a graveplot holding a little baby. The woman was telling the little baby about how wonderful her mother was and how she would never get to see her growing up, that she was the last little way for her mother to live on. The woman was crying, so was Kagome's mother.  
  
Kagome made a gagging gesture and returned to reading her book. She tipped her glasses up again.  
  
"Kagome... wouldn't it be nice to have a baby?" Her mom spoke to her longingly.   
  
"Sure." Kagome responded without looking up from her book.  
  
"Kagome, I want grandchildren. Why don't you find someone already?" Her mother nagged.  
  
"I don't want to have children, mom. I don't want to get married. We've been through this. Ask Sota to give you grandchildren." Kagome set her open book down in her lap and glared at her mother.  
  
"Kagome, you know that his wife didn't want children either so he had that operation. You're my last hope!" Her mother looked away from the television and got a bit more confrontational.  
  
"Why can't you just respect my wishes, mother? I visit you every saturday! Isn't that enough?"  
  
"No! Respect MY wishes! I want grandchildren!" Her mother insisted.   
  
"Why don't you just adopt a kid? That would keep you busy!"  
  
"I don't want to adopt! I want you to have a baby!"  
  
"I don't WANT a baby!"  
  
Kagome's mom grabbed Kagome by the wrist and dragged her towards the well house.  
  
"It's been nineteen years already! Make up with Inuyasha!"  
  
"NO! It's not going to happen!" Kagome dragged her feet. Why was her mother this strong?  
  
It wasn't that Kagome's mother was strong, it's that Kagome had gotten pretty weak. She didn't do a lot of manual labor as a librarian.  
  
"Kagome! You are not being fair to me! You shouldn't withhold grandchildren from me over some petty spat!" Kagome was getting nearer and nearer to the wellhouse and was now flopping herself against the ground like a toddler, trying to make it harder for her mother to pull her.  
  
"It was NOT a petty spat! It was a clean break up! That's history! Leave me alone! Let go of me."  
  
They reached the well house and were going inside. "Just put it behind you and make me a grandchild!"  
  
"NO!" Kagome grabbed onto the rim of the well and was holding on to it for dear life. "You're being ridiculous. If you throw me in, I'll just come right back, and then you are going in a home!" Of course Kagome didn't mean this, she just wanted her mom to let go of her. She was thirty-four, much, much too old for this kind of garbage.  
  
"Your clock is ticking, Kagome!" Her mother grabbed her by the ankles and flipped her into the well.  
  
Kagome continued to hold on to the rim from inside. "Then I hope it runs out already so you will stop nagging me!" Kagome shouted.  
  
"That isn't very nice." Her mom peeled Kagome off of the well one finger at a time.  
  
As Kagome was falling she shouted: "YOU'RE GOING IN A HOOOO..."   
  
Poor Kagome never got to finish that sentence. 


	2. Babysitting for Twelve

Kagome groaned at how dirty she was. Not only was she dirty, but she was stuck in the bottom of a well. That's a wonderful situation. When she was fifteen there was a vine hanging into the well which she could climb up. However, that vine had more than enough time to rot and die. How was she supposed to get out anyway? It's not like anyone knew that she was in there. She pressed her feet against opposite sides of the well and tried to climb out. Unfortunately, she was too weak to pull off such a maneuver. She tried to climb up but simply slid straight back to the ground and landed on her butt.  
  
This was a very undignified day. It seemed that she would simply have to call for help. "HELP! Sango? Miroku? Can anyone hear me? Anyone! Help! Shippo?" HEEELLLLPPP!" Kagome shouted.  
  
Suddenly, Kagome's luck changed. A rope was lowered down to her. "Who's down here? How do you know my name?" A voice called down to her.  
  
Kagome grabbed on to the rope and slowly scaled upward. "I'm Kagome, who am I talking to?"  
  
"It's Sango! What are you doing back?" Sango started to pull Kagome up by withdrawing the rope little by little.  
  
"My mother threw me in the well! She's lost her bloody mind!"  
  
Kagome finally got out of the well. She lay on her back, appreciating the sunlight. It was good to be out of the well.  
  
"I'm glad to see you, Kagome!" Sango threw a hug over her.  
  
"Uh... yeah, you too." Kagome said, a little less enthusiastically.  
  
Sango pulled Kagome to her feet and started to drag her in the direction of the village. "Shippo is going to be so happy, he'll just die!" Sango exclaimed.  
  
With her free hand, Kagome pushed her glasses up her nose again. "Well, I don't want to kill him." She said calmly, slightly annoyed at the fact that she was being dragged around again.  
  
"Oh, you know what I mean, Kagome!"  
  
They arrived in Kaede's village. It was as it always was, busy, dirty, and full of noisy little children, with grown men hammering on their roves trying to fix whatever damage had occurred.  
  
"So where is Shippo, exactly?" Kagome asked, rather tired of being left in the dark.  
  
"Well, I don't really know for sure. He doesn't really have any really permanent home. He stays with Miroku and me for a while, then, whenever he feels like switching he goes and stays with Inuyasha. He used to stay with Kaede sometimes, but... you know..." Sango slowed down.  
  
"She passed on, didn't she?" Kagome asked her, already guessing the answer.  
  
"Yeah, but... it was such a long time ago that no-one's really sad anymore." Sango consoled her.  
  
They entered into a little hut. It had a man, twelve children, and a two- tailed cat.  
  
Kagome gawked at the chaos. "Where are we, Sango?"  
  
"This is where I live of course." Sango looked about. "I guess Shippo isn't here right now... Honey! Honey, come here! We have a visitor!"  
  
"Don't tell me all these children are yours, Sango." Kagome said with surprise.  
  
"Well, actually, they are. You know, that's what comes of being married to Miroku."  
  
"Oh! I'm so happy for you! Congratulations!" Kagome feigned excitement. She knew that her friend was happy, and she was happy about that, but the entire institute of marriage seemed antiquated and repulsive to her.  
  
Miroku looked Kagome up and down curiously.  
  
"Will you look who it is!" Exclaimed Sango with excitement."  
  
For the next three minutes Miroku continued to look at her. Finally he gave up and asked, "Who is it?"  
  
"It's Kagome, stupid!" Sango told him as she lightly bonked him on the head. She pretended to be disgusted by his ignorance, but the truth was that she wasn't. In fact, she wouldn't have known that it was Kagome either, had Kagome not told her.  
  
"Oh." He said, looking at her dubiously. This woman didn't look a whole lot like the Kagome they had known. She wore a blue pantsuit. Her hair caught up in a loose bun at the top of her head, with little clumps of hair falling out around her neck. She wore thin, flat-heeled, black shoes, and teeny reading glasses. This woman was a lot more calm and collected than the Kagome they had known.  
  
"Sango, dear, I have to do an exorcism in the next town over, I'd like you to come with me if we can get a babysitter on such short notice."  
  
Sango made a little worrying gesture. She bit her thumb just a little bit, "I dunno... um, Kagome, would you mind watching our kids for a few hours?"  
  
Kagome took a few seconds to think it over, she looked inside their hut. Kirara was covered in mud and was being chased around by a toddler until they both crashed into a wall. "I'd like to, but I'm not so sure that I could handle all those kids..." Kagome told her honestly.  
  
"Oh that won't be a problem." Miroku told her, then he called for the oldest of his children. "Keiko!"  
  
Keiko, a twelve-year-old girl with very short hair came skipping up to them. "What is it?" she asked.  
  
"Your mom and I need to go out of town on business, will you watch your brothers and sisters? This lady here will help you."  
  
"Oh, alright... do I get full control over them?"  
  
"Sure. Bye kids, bye Kagome!" Miroku called as he and Sango walked off.  
  
Keiko rubbed her hands together and grinned menacingly. 


	3. helper's helper

With Miroku and Sango gone, their children started making a real ruckus. A little boy, noticing that his parents were gone began crying bitterly. "Moooommmmmmmmmmmmyyyyyyy! Dadddddddddddyyy!! Where did you go?! Mommy?"  
  
Keiko walked up to him and slapped him squarely in the face. That was an awful thing to do, especially since the boy couldn't have been more than three. "She hit me! Mommy!!! Wahhhhhhh!!" realizing that his parents still weren't there to help him, he began to just scream.  
  
Kagome, noticing what was going on, picked up the little guy. "Shh. It's okay. They'll be back, they're just out of town on business." Kagome bounced him up and down, and managed to slow his crying slightly. She then turned around and glared at Keiko. "Keiko! That's very mean! Do not do that again!"  
  
"You're not the boss of me! I'm the boss of you!" Keiko reminded her.  
  
"Argh! I'm sure your parents didn't mean THAT!" Kagome exclaimed in frustration. "It's wrong to hit people! Didn't your mommy ever teach you that?!"  
  
"Mommy hits people all the time." Keiko told her matter-of-factly.  
  
"Sango..." Kagome groaned in frustration. She knew that Keiko wasn't lying, Miroku had the bumps and bruises to prove it.  
  
A six-year-old girl named Ryuuichi approached Kagome who was still occupied with Keiko and the toddler. "New mommy, I'm hungry."  
  
"I'm not your mom. I'm just babysitting." Kagome told the kid.  
  
"Whatever, just get me some food." The kid told her non-caringly.  
  
Kagome scowled, then she turned to Keiko. "Where do you keep your food around here?"  
  
"Don't be stupid. If we kept food around, it would rot. You have to go hunt something."  
  
Kagome groaned. "You can't be serious."  
  
"Yes, but don't go unless a lot of people are hungry. Otherwise it's a waste of time." Keiko told her.  
  
"Okay then, we'll take a vote... How many of you are hungry, raise your hands." Kagome shouted to everyone in the hut.  
  
Eight kids raised their hands. Kagome set the toddler down, and she once again turned to Keiko. "Tell me you have bows and arrows."  
  
"Yeah, here." Keiko said as she handed Kagome a bow and a quiver of arrows. "But wouldn't you rather use a knife?"  
  
"No." Kagome stated with disguist. "Can I trust you to keep your siblings from killing each other while I'm gone?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"I don't want you to kill any of them either."  
  
"fiddlesticks..." Keiko tried to curse.  
  
Taking the bow and arrows, Kagome headed out of the hut, dreading the task at hand. She saw a bunny hopping out of a bush near her. Aww. It was too cute to kill. "It's too small to eat." Kagome justified to herself.  
  
She walked further into the brush. Kagome saw a deer. Kagome shot it in face. Kagome was quite mortified with what she had done, but she was also surprised that she could still shoot.  
  
"Hey! That was mine!" A male voice shouted.  
  
"Oh, sorry. Do you want it? You can have it." Kagome shouted back, walking towards the voice.  
  
"No, that's alright. I'll find another one." He said as he walked into view.  
  
"Inuyasha!" She yelped in surprised.  
  
"Kagome?"  
  
"Yeah..." she confirmed his suspiscion.  
  
"What are you doing back?" He asked her.  
  
"My mother lost what little sense she had and threw me into the well. Then Sango got me out... and somehow I ended up babysitting."  
  
"Oh that sucks!" He told her empathetically.  
  
"How come?"  
  
"'cause they've got twelve kids and their all monsters!" He declared.  
  
"You've been suckered into babysitting them before?" She asked him with surprise.  
  
"Yes... do want help?"  
  
"Definetly! I'm so glad you asked!" She exclaimed. The reason Inuyasha and Kagome could speak so plainly after all of this time is that they were no longer holding out hope for some kind of future together, just as a divorced couple who have quarreled all through marriage can sit together and causually have lunch.  
  
Inuyasha picked up the dead deer by the scruff of its neck. He pulled the arrow out of its face and handed it back to Kagome.  
  
"Thanks..." She said as she hesitantly took back the arrow. She wiped it on the ground and then returned it to the quiver.  
  
As they stepped into the hut, Inuyasha began to yell at the children. "Alright you little monsters! You better sit down and shut up, 'cause now I'm here to watch you!"  
  
Instantly, the hut plunged deeper into chaos. Out of the voices Kagome could definetly pick out a "Oh crap! It's Inuyasha!" and a "run, he's evil!" Yep, Inuyasha had definetly babysat here before.  
  
"I said shut up!" The room went dead silent. "Thank you!" He said, rather sarcastically.  
  
"Hand me the knife, Keiko, and if you try anything you're dead." Inuyasha commanded.  
  
Keiko gave him the knife that she had offered Kagome earlier.  
  
"Inuyasha, you don't have to be that mean to them." Kagome scolded him.  
  
"don't I?" He asked her, knowing he was right.  
  
"Arg." Kagome gave up and buried her face in her hands.  
  
As he cut up the poor beast, he began to converse with Kagome. "So, why did your mother throw you in, anyway?"  
  
"She wants grandchildren. She told me to make up with you and give her grandchildren. I can't believe how obnoxious she is!" Kagome confessed to him.  
  
"Oh..." He let the information seep in. "So you don't have kids yet, huh?"  
  
"Nope. I told her that I don't want kids, she won't listen to me."  
  
"Well, not all kids are as bad as these ones." He told her as he threw a boy, about the age of eight across the room. The boy had been pulling on Inuyasha's hair and was now holding a big clump of it.  
  
"Are you saying that you actually agree with her?"  
  
"............................................................................................................ why aren't those bastard kids of theirs noisy when I need them to be?" He questioned why he was fated to have such an awkward situation.


	4. Blackmail

Sensing his discomfort, Kagome decided to switch topics. "That deer isn't going to cook itself, let's go start a fire." She said, walking outside the hut to get firewood.

Inuyasha sighed. He was glad that she had changed topics, but he wished that he could have told her all that was on his mind.

Right before following her, he turned to the children. "Try anything stupid and I'll poke little holes in you with my claws."

"Hey Kagome," He said, while stacking the wood she had gathered into a little bundle. "Do you know why Keiko's hair is so short?"

"No, why?" She asked, as she held her reading glasses up to the sun, causing a teeny fire to start on the bundle.

"She's such a little jerk that all her brothers and sisters kept pulling her hair. The only thing Sango and Miroku could think of to do was cut her hair so short that you can't really pull it."

Kagome laughed as did Inuyasha.

Kagome blew on the flame while Inuyasha put little pieces of dried grass on it, helping it grow. "You'd think she'd learn her lesson, then." Kagome said lightly.

"You'd think, but she's still just as much of a brat. It only encouraged her. She's bigger than the rest of them and that was the only way they could defend themselves against her. She's not a complete bully though, they all start stuff. They're monsters."

"If that's the case, I hope that Sango and Miroku are really exorcising demons and not making more brats."

"Me too. If they have a thirteenth kid, I'm sure that little hut will explode and poor Kirara will have a nervous breakdown."

"Surely they must see that children suck. Why don't they just stop ... you know."

"You don't remember Miroku very well, do you?"

"Well, I do, but Sango used to turn him down all the time. Did she just stop refusing all together?"

"I think so." Inuyasha said, and they began laughing together again.

Suddenly, Inuyasha turned around and said. "That's not good."

"What's not good?... Oh no!" All twelve children had gathered outside of the hut. They were looking pretty glum, and several of them were crying silently.

Kagome came running over to them. "Oh my gosh! I'm sorry! How much of that did you hear?" She tried to hug one of the littler ones, and he slapped her away." "I'm sorry! I'll make it up to you!" Kagome told the children apologetically.

Inuyasha made no real move to apologize to them. He had meant what he said about them being monsters, Kagome was rather wishy-washy about it.

"We'll think about it! Stay here!" Keiko declared. She made a motion for her siblings to follow her into the hut, and they did.

"Why are you going to such trouble to get them to forgive us?" Inuyasha asked Kagome.

"Don't you see? We really hurt their feelings! We called them names and made fun of their parents. They're little kids! Little kids aren't meant to be abused that way!"

"Kagome, it builds character to get abused a little bit as a kid."

"You can't tell me you enjoyed what you went through." She argued.

Inuyasha thought a moment about his childhood. "...fair enough. We'll try to make it up to them, but that isn't going to undo what we did."

"No, but at least we can try."

At that moment, the children emerged from the hut, Keiko leading them. "We have decided to forgive you and not tell our parents what you said if you agree to the following terms: Firstly, Kagome must give all of the girls a make-over. Secondly, Inuyasha must finish cooking the deer and give it to us. Also, One of you must tell us a story. Inuyasha may not threaten us in any way form or fashion until our parents return home. Finally, it goes without saying that you must be nice to us and play with us as we see fit. Do you agree to these terms?" Keiko asked them.

"Yes." Kagome said.

"...... um.." Kagome elbowed Inuyasha. "... yes."

"Then it is decided," Keiko announced. "Let the fun commence!"

Inuyasha groaned at this.

"Me first! No ME first!" The five girls started to jump up and down while arguing. "I have a way to decide," Kagome told them. "All of you put your fists out like this, put them all together. Kagome started to touch their fists in sequence. "bubblegum, bubblegum in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?" "Four." the girl said. "Alright, one.. two.. three.. four.. now you put one fist behind your back like this."

With this method it was decided that the four-year-old girl named Ari should go first. Ari had shoulder-length hair. It was black, but had a natural reddish tint to it. It seemed to Kagome that the first logical step would be to put it up somehow. Picking up two flowers with long stems to tie it up with, Kagome put Ari's hair in two high buns, with the flowers facing forward. Satisfied, Ari clapped her tiny hands gleefully. It was very cute because she did it with her fingers apart.

"K, Who's next?" Kagome asked.

"Me!" Ryuuichi shouted as she skipped up to Kagome. Ryuuichi had dark brown hair which was all the same length. It fell in a poofy way equally around her head, it completely covered her eyes and nose.

"Say, do you think your parents would get mad if I cut your hair?" Kagome asked her.

"Nah."

"K, then find me something to cut it with."

"Sure." Ryuuichi said as she skipped out of sight. Ryuuichi returned quickly carrying a knife.

"I don't suppose they taught their kids not to run with sharp objects." Kagome mused to herself. Kagome Instructed Ryuuichi to sit down, while she took locks of her hair in between her fingers and cut them with the knife. What Kagome did was this: she shortened Ryuuichi's hair in front, so that she could see, and cut it toward the back in a slant, so that her hair got longer the closer it was to her neck. She also thinned it out a good deal. Kagome would have cut it a bit more, but Ryuuichi lost her patience and was happy with it anyway.

"Food's done." Inuyasha announced as all twelve children ran to the fire outside of the hut.

As the children and Inuyasha were eating, Kagome began to fiddle with her own hair; it was giving her a headache. She took the rubberband off and let her hair fall. Kagome shook her head and put the rubberband around her wrist for safe keeping. Her watch read six-thirty.

Kagome's eyes happened to meet with Inuyasha's. To conceal the fact that he had been watching her, he engaged her in conversation.

"Aren't you gonna eat, Kagome?"

"Nah, I'm not hungry." Kagome thought back to the deer's expression when she shot it. She felt more like vomiting than eating.

She lay down with her hands supporting her head. "I think I'll take a bath..." she mused aloud.

Inuyasha saw an opportunity. "I'll go with you. You can't protect yourself, so you shouldn't be alone."

"Later then." Kagome said flatly. "Someone has to stay and watch these kids."

"Okay." Inuyasha was agreeable. He turned away from her, he didn't want her to see the smile on his face. He was blushing hotly.

"Are you sick, Inuyasha?" A boy of nine asked him.

"No, Ryuu. Why?"

"'cause you're all red and sweaty."

"Oh."

Kagome laughed at him. She had been out of the dating loop so long that she had forgotten that there could be anything sketchy about bathing together. She still wasn't bothered by it. As soon as any girl but Ryuuichi or Ari was done, she would approach Kagome asking to have her hair done.

After a while, every girl had approached her but Keiko.

Keiko had strayed from the group and was sitting on a log at the edge of the village. Kagome approached Keiko. "Don't you want a make-over?"

Keiko shook her head. She had tears flowing freely down her face.

"Why not?"

"Don't be stupid. My hair is too short for you to do anything to. You can hardly even tell I'm a girl."

Kagome sat down beside her and wiped off one of her tears. "That's not true, I knew that you were a girl right off."

"Only because my name is Keiko." she sniffed.

"No, I would have know anyway. You are quite feminine."

"Really?"

"Yeah. You know, I don't have to do your hair. I've got make-up."

"Make-up?" Keiko asked skeptically, not knowing what make-up was.

"Here, I'll show you. Close your eyes." Kagome produced a make up compact and a tube of lipstick from her left pocket.

"Is this a trick?" Keiko was suspicious.

"No." Kagome reassured her as she applied eyeshadow, blush and finally lipstick to Keiko's face.

"What are you doing?"

Kagome didn't answer, instead she said. "You can open your eyes now." Kagome held out her open compact and Keiko gazed into the mirror inside.

"Wow! I look like a doll!" She exclaimed.

"Is that a good thing?" Kagome asked her.

"Definetly!" She said as she marched back towards the rest of the group. Smiling smugly and stuffing her make-up back into her pocket, Kagome followed after her.

"So then, Miroku touched her and Sango hit him with a rock."

"No! We want a good story!"

"I've told you three stories already! I think that's enough!"

"We've heard those before, and they're barely even stories! Tell us a good one or we'll tell our parents what you said about us!" The children argued with Inuyasha.

"Alright... once upon a time, there was a cute little deer named Fuzzy. Kagome shot it in the face and you ate it. The end."

"That's awful! Tell us a real story!"

"You think that story isn't true?" Inuyasha sort of taunted them because they were upset.

"How's it going?" Kagome asked as she plopped down next to Inuyasha inside the hut. He had been trying to get the children to settle into bed, but his stories were pretty unsettling.

"Kagome, help me!" He whispered through gritted teeth. "I don't know any stories."

"Alright, I'll tell the story." She announced with a smile. The children cheered and got themselves more comfortable.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful little girl named Cinderella. She lived in a house with her father, and they were very happy together. Cinderella used to play in the grass, and ride ponies, and all sorts of fun things. One day, her father took a second wife. This wife had two daughters of her own who were very mean to Cinderella. Soon after they had married, Cinderella's father died and she was very sad. As if things weren't bad enough for poor Cinderella, her new mother began to show her true colors; she was a wicked stepmother. Jealous of Cinderella's beauty, her stepmother kept her inside the house at all time. She grew more and more cruel as Cinderella grew more and more beautiful. She was ashamed of her daughters' ugliness. Eventually, Cinderella became a servant in her own house. Still, she was not bitter and she loved her stepmother and stepsisters even though they treated her cruely.

One day, the prince had decided to hold a grand ball. He was going to choose a wife, and every eligible maiden in the country was invited to attend. When the notice arrived, Cinderella received it first and notified her family. She was thrilled, she couldn't wait to attend. At first, Her wicked stepmother refused to let her go. Then, she decided to let Cinderella get her hopes up. She agreed to let Cinderella go if she could find something appropriate to wear, and she could finish all of her chores. Cinderella was so happy! She decided that she would wear her deceased mother's own gown. On the day of the ball, her stepmother and stepsisters gave her more chores than ever before. They had hoped that she would not finish her chores and would have to miss the ball. They feared that if she went, the prince would choose her over them. After all, she was very beautiful and they were very ugly (inside and out). It was difficult, but Cinderella did prevail. She was able to finish all of her chores and get ready in time to leave for the ball with them. Consumed with jealousy, her stepsisters ripped her gown to shreads while she was still wearing it. Her stepmother told her that she could not go to the ball after all, and faked grief as she headed out the door. Cinderella could hear them laughing as their carriage zoomed out of sight. Cinderella sat down in the garden and wept."

Sango and Miroku walked into the hut.

"Hi, we're home!" Miroku announced.

"Shh! Let her finish the story!" Keiko told them.

Miroku and Sango looked at each other and Sango shrugged. They sat down and listened too.

Kagome chuckled and continued. "Seeing her tears, Cinderella's faerie godmother came to help her. She magically gave her a stunning gown with beautiful glass slippers. She made a pumpkin from the garden into a shining carriage, and she made some rats into fine, white horses for the carriage, and she made a horse into a coachman for her. Her faerie godmother told her to hurry off, because at exactly midnight the spell would wear off, and everything would return to what it was. After thanking her, she sped off to the ball. At the ball, the prince saw her and fell in love. He danced with her all night. She was so happy dancing with him that she did not notice how quickly the hours were passing. Suddenly she heard the clock strike midnight. Alarmed, she ran off. The prince chased after her, because he wanted to meet with her again, but he had not even learned her name. Sadly, she got away. She ran so fast that one of her glass slippers came off and remained on the step. As she was going home, she could see the spell wearing off. Her carriage turned back into a pumpkin and she had to walk part of the way home. The next day, the prince went on a massive search for the girl that he had fallen in love with. His only clue was the glass slipper. He went to every household in the land and tried the slipper on every girl that he found. Finally, he arrived at Cinderella's home. He tried it on her stepmother and her stepsisters but it did not fit. Right as he was about to try it on Cinderella, her wicked stepmother 'accidently' broke the slipper. The prince was outraged and dismayed, but Cinderella was able to comfort him by showing him that she had the other slipper. The prince recognized her, and he took her as his wife. Then, of course, they lived happily ever after. The End."

"Very good, Kagome!" Sango clapped.

"I see that you and Inuyasha did a very good job babysitting." Miroku congratulated them.

"Hey Keiko, what's that on your face?" Sango asked.

"Gotta go, bye!" Kagome declared while running out of the hut.

"Me too, bye!" Inuyasha followed.


	5. Shippo Makes His Entrance

While running along side Kagome, Inuyasha said. "So, how about that bath now?"  
  
"Sure." said Kagome nonchalantly.  
  
The body of water which is nearest Kaede's village is not a hot spring, but a small, cold lake, so that is where Kagome and Inuyasha went to bathe.  
  
Standing on the bank, Kagome began to undress starting with her shoes and socks.  
  
Embarrassed, Inuyasha turned away from her and started to undress too. He began to wonder if this could be a bad idea. Of course bathing with her meant that he would be with a naked Kagome, but it also meant that Kagome would be with a naked Inuyasha. He had not considered that second little factoid.  
  
He started to take off what would be the least embarrassing for him. He took of his jacket and shirt. Then he stood there for a few seconds, not wanting to take off his pants. Finally, he worked up his courage and did.  
  
Seeing as he was undressed he naturally assumed that she was finished undressing too. Kagome's clothes, however, were much more complicated than his own. He had not taken this into account.  
  
Kagome was still in her bra and had her pants on.  
  
Inuyasha stood there, greatly embarrassed, naked and looking away from her. He waited a few more horrible seconds to check if she was done yet. He had envisioned them taking off their clothes in a very fluid, instantaneous motion and going in the lake together.  
  
He looked at her again. Her pants were off and she was currently snapping her bra off.  
  
She briefly glanced over at him, trying to see what he was doing just standing there.  
  
They had another moment of awkward silence.  
  
"You can go in the water, you know." She told him.  
  
He was holding both of his hands over "himself" in an effort to make this less humiliating.  
  
"I know. I'm waiting for you." He told her like she was an idiot.  
  
"Oh," she said, removing her bra before his very eyes.  
  
He felt as though he should turn around to avoid looking at her. He really didn't want her to look at him either, he also wanted to turn around so that he could be certain that she wouldn't see the front side of him. The problem was, if he turned around she would most certainly see the back side of him. He didn't want that either. He could have simply closed his eyes. However, he didn't feel secure enough at that moment to close his eyes.  
  
She pulled her underwear down her legs and put them in her stack of clothing.  
  
They walked together into the water.  
  
Inuyasha reflected on how awful that was. Why on earth had he insisted on them undressing together?  
  
"So how have things been while I've been away?" Kagome asked him casually.  
  
"Crazy, crazy and busy..." Inuyasha reflected on the past nineteen years. "It's been a different kind of busy, though. It's been a very happy kind of busy, with those two and all their little babies. Shippo hasn't grown much, he's almost exactly the same as you remember him..."  
  
"That's nice."  
  
"How has your life gone?" Inuyasha asked her with genuine curiosity.  
  
"Quiet. It's been very quiet. Sota is married, no kids. I've got a job at a library. I guess you don't know what that is. You know what a book is, though. I sit all day in a big building with thousands of books. People borrow them, read them and return them."  
  
"Do you... do you... have a boyfriend?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?" He asked her, hoping that she would declare some kind of undying love for him.  
  
"I just gave up on it. I didn't want to date. I tried to of course... but... I just didn't see the point. Actually, I did see the point, and I didn't want to get to it."  
  
"Listen... Kagome. There's something that I've been wanting to tell you." Inuyasha had finally screwed up the courage to confess his love for her. He was pretty certain that if he didn't do it now he would probably never get the chance.  
  
Picking up a lock of her hair, he put it behind her ear. He scooted closer to her. He hesitated a moment, and then he just did it. "Kagome, I love you."  
  
"I know that." Kagome chuckled at his big display of nervousness over this statement of the obvious.  
  
"You do?!" He was greatly surprised.  
  
"Sort of, yeah."  
  
"What do you mean sort of?"  
  
"You don't really love me. There's no such thing as love. We worked in close quarters for a long time, I'm a girl, you're a boy. What we had there was sexual tension. It's natural. It doesn't mean that we should have done anything about it. I think the proof that it wasn't love is the fact that it just drifted away with time. I didn't come to see you, you didn't come to see me. We didn't need to. There was none of this magical driving force that people pretend exists."  
  
He didn't know what to do with that statement. He could take rejection of himself, that he was used to. He could handle acceptance of himself, that would have made him very happy. This, however, was nothing that he could have planned for.  
  
"I didn't come because I didn't think you wanted me too! Not because I didn't love you!" He exclaimed.  
  
"You didn't love me! There's no such thing! It's just an instict! Everything just wants to mate, it's built into us, but I don't want to do it! Start getting used to the fact that it isn't going to happen!" She was suddenly stern.  
  
"No! I can't and won't do that! I love you! You hear that, Kagome? I LOVE you! It's a real thing, and I have it for you!"  
  
"No you don't! Your body is just fooling you! It's making you think that you want to mate with me, but if you weren't under the control of your hormones, you'd just be able to leave me alone. You could live happily ever after, alone! Like me!"  
  
"So what if my body IS fooling me? I know that it would make me happy to be with you. The reason doesn't matter to me! I bet you feel the same way! I bet you're just holding it in! You don't have to! You can live here with me!" His voice softened.  
  
"Let me think about that. NO!" She was angry with him.  
  
"Why won't you actually consider it?" He sounded hurt.  
  
"Why don't YOU actually consider what you're asking me to do? You're asking me to give up my home, my job, my life for your instincts! You want me to just be here all the time, popping out babies like Sango. I don't want to do it! Accept that! Accept that I'm not going to do it!"  
  
"No! Absolutely not! I'm not giving up on you!" He glared at her, and he glared back at him.  
  
It was a standoff. Neither party was going to back down now. They stared at each other for almost five minutes.  
  
Finally, Kagome made a move: She changed the subject. "So where is Shippo, anyway?"  
  
Inuyasha responded in little clipped sentences. He was not giving up. "He's chasing squirrels."  
  
"Chasing squirrels?" She thought it was odd.  
  
"Yes, chasing squirrels. He thinks it's fun. Hey, maybe fun is an instict too. Maybe we should all stop having fun." He continued to glare at her.  
  
As if responding to his name, Shippo came running through at tree which was above them. He was furiously chasing the little grey squirrel with the poofy tail. It ran to the very end of a branch which got constantly skinnier. At the last second, The squirrel jumped onto a fatter branch, and the skinny branch broke under Shippo's weight.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" #SPLASH# Shippo screamed as he fell from the tree.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Kagome screamed in surprise.  
  
Shippo surfaced and saw the two of them naked together. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He screamed in utter shock.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Inuyasha screamed in anger.  
  
Shippo screamed. Kagome screamed. Inuyasha screamed. Shippo screamed. Inuyasha, Kagome and Shippo all kept screaming.  
  
Finally, Shippo fainted. 


	6. Shippo causes a Sleepover

"Oh no!" Kagome shrieked. "We have to get him out of the water or he'll drown!"  
  
Kagome ran towards the unconscious fox kid. Of course, being in the water slows progress a great deal.  
  
Before Kagome could reach him, Inuyasha picked him up by the tail and started to shake him.  
  
"Wake up, you'll worry Kagome!" He barked.  
  
Shippo wasn't waking up, and Kagome tried to grab the kid away from Inuyasha. "Don't hurt him!" she shouted, while reaching for him.  
  
Inuyasha held Shippo just outside of Kagome's reach and continued to shake him. "Wake up, dummy!"  
  
"Put him down!" Kagome ordered.  
  
"Forget that, put your clothes on. If Shippo wakes up and sees you naked he'll die of shock."  
  
Knowing he was right, Kagome growled and quickly put her clothes on. She put her pants and shirt on. She hurriedly slipped into her shoes. She tied her jacket around her waist and stuck her bra,panties, and socks in her pockets. While she was doing so she warned, "If you hurt him, I will really really hurt you!"  
  
"Oh what are you going to do?" He asked boredly while tossing Shippo into Kagome's chest.  
  
"Step out of that water and I'll show you, I don't want to drown you!" She said hatefully.  
  
He walked up to her. "Middle-aged librarian versus half demon, who's gonna win?" He said cockily.  
  
"SIT! SIT! SIT! Middle-aged librarian wins." She smirked.  
  
"[CENSOREDCENSOREDCENSOREDCENSOREDCENSORED] I forgot you could do that!" He growled as he arose from the ground.  
  
He winced because he landed so hard while he was still quite naked. He grabbed his pants and put them on. "You don't have to play so rough. It's not like I'm actually hurting him."  
  
"Yeah you are! You'll rattle his poor little brains out!" Kagome craddled Shippo and acted motherly for the moment.  
  
"As if you care about Shippo." Inuyasha said sarcastically while picking up the rest of his clothes and walking away from her.  
  
"What is THAT supposed to mean?!" She followed after him.  
  
"First you act all motherly to him right after he loses his only remaining parent, thereby making you some kind of foster mother, then you completely abandon him for almost twenty years, then you decide to just start playing the part of mother after all this time. You don't actually care about Shippo."  
  
"I DO care about Shippo! I have always cared about Shippo. If you needed me to be there for him, you should have gotten me!"  
  
"You shouldn't have left! You knew that Shippo needed you and you left anyway."  
  
"You know, I said that he could live with me. We figured out that he could go through the well if we put him in my backpack. It was you who wouldn't let him!"  
  
"Well I figured that if I didn't let Shippo leave you wouldn't stay gone either."  
  
"Then stop blaming me! It's not my fault!"  
  
"It is your fault!" He screamed back at her.  
  
"If it's my fault then it's your fault too!" She countered.  
  
By this time they had reached the Goshinboku tree.  
  
Kagome stopped. "Why are we here?"  
  
"This is where I live, dumbass."  
  
"You live in this tree?"  
  
"Yes, I thought we'd covered that."  
  
"So when you were insisting that I live with you, you wanted me to live in this tree?" Kagome burst out laughing. "Now that is just silly."  
  
"I never quite thought of it that way," he mused. "You could live in Kaede's old hut, I suppose. She did leave it to you in her will."  
  
"Inuyasha, I am not going to spend the rest of my life in Kaede's hut. I am not going to live in this tree. I am not going to live in the Sengoku Jidai. This place is no longer my home. Get over it!"  
  
Shippo chose this time to wake up. He looked up at Kagome. "Kagome...?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What are you doing back?" He asked her, still in a daze.  
  
"I'm back by accident, but I'm still glad to see you." Kagome put on her usual sacchrine sweet smile.  
  
"Kagome... how long are you going to stay?"  
  
Kagome sucked air in through her teeth, not wanting to answer that question. "I'm leaving as soon as I can... sorry, Shippo..."  
  
Shippo looked like he was going to cry. "Why do you have to go away again? Please, Kagome, stay..."  
  
Kagome didn't have a real reason why she had to leave. This was Saturday, and she didn't work again until Monday.  
  
Kagome looked at him pathetically. "Shippo, please... don't make me stay... You could come live with me if you like."  
  
Shippo was torn. He looked at Inuyasha, then he looked back to Kagome. "I don't know..." He said.  
  
"It's nice there, seriously. My time has candy. You remember candy, don'tcha?" Kagome told him.  
  
"No, her time is awful, Shippo! I should know, I've been there. It's loud, it's smelly, it's confusing and bad!" Inuyasha told him much more passionately.  
  
"Everything is easy there, you'll be amazed by all the cool stuff. Plus, you won't have to miss me while I'm at my time because you'll be there too!"  
  
"The ground is hard, there's hardly any plants there!" Inuyasha insisted.  
  
"It's full of fun people, and fun things to do. There are whole parks dedicated to fun!"  
  
"The people aren't fun, Shippo! They're all grouchy 'cause they wake up too early in the morning!" Inuyasha contradicted her.  
  
"I'm from that time, and I'm fun! Aren't I, Shippo? I'm not grouchy. Am I?"  
  
"I'm not sure that I want to answer that." Shippo told her.  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?" She raised her voice involuntarily as her temper flared.  
  
"It means that you are grouchy, just like I say." Inuyasha said while flicking her between the eyes, just to add to her irritation.  
  
"You know what, Inuyasha? If I'm grouchy it's your fault. It's not as if you don't antagonize me 'round the clock."  
  
"A, I don't know what the word 'antagonize' means. B, You were grouchy before I even started pissing you off."  
  
"Inuyasha, you piss me off without even knowing it a lot of times. I'll have you know that I'm quite happy and non-grouchy when I'm in my time, which is why I should go back!"  
  
Shippo clutched the fabric of her shirt and pretty much begged her to stay. "Please, Kagome! Don't go! At least stay the night!"  
  
"Oh... um... okay." Kagome finally gave in.  
  
"Shippo! I want you to make that face and that speech every night! Maybe you can get her to live here!" Inuyasha cheered.  
  
"Inuyasha, I'm only staying for one night." Kagome reminded him.  
  
"Yeah, yeah." He grumbled, only half believing that she would go in the morning. 


	7. Sleepover ends badly

Shippo happily hopped onto Kagome's head. Inuyasha gracefully jumped onto a branch which he believed to be comfortable enough and got in an upright, sleeping position.  
  
Kagome jumped and swung one leg over a low-lying branch. This was a fairly painful move for the middle-aged librarian. She landed fairly hard on her inner thigh. "Ow.." she muttered.  
  
She slumped forward and slid towards the trunk of the tree. Upon feeling the pressure of the trunk against her front she began to carefully change into a more comfortable position. Of course, Kagome and every one of you knows that a tree is not a comfortable place to sleep. This is especially true for someone who has had a nice comfy bed for most of their life.  
  
Shippo fluffed her hair through is paws, lifting it up and shoving it back down onto her scalp (not unlike what a cat does). He did this and walked in a little circle before curling up to sleep atop her head.  
  
Kagome grumbled at the feeling of a knot in the wood pressing itself into her back. She would never be able to sleep like this. She tried to sleep this way but failed. After about five minutes, she was so miserable that she felt like crying. She decided to voice her discomfort. "See, Inuyasha? This is a great reason why I don't want to live here. How can you expect me to sleep in a tree?"  
  
Inuyasha opened his eyes and looked at her. "Come sleep in my lap then."  
  
Kagome shot him a suspicious glare. "No..." she responded.  
  
"You'll come around eventually." He said with great confidence as he closed his eyes.  
  
Kagome "hmph"ed.  
  
However, after only ten minutes, she began to watch him, hoping that he was asleep. Seeing that his chest was moving fairly steadily and he hadn't moved in a while she assumed that he was asleep.  
  
She had decided that she couldn't get any less comfortable than she was right now. She couldn't even be less comfortable sleeping on the lap of the guy whom she'd spent all day rejecting.  
  
She moved carefully, she moved so slowly that she was sure that Inuyasha would not feel her moving. She was careful not to wake up Shippo.  
  
She was certain that she could feel each branch stop moving and looked at both Inuyasha and Shippo to check for signs of consciousness before moving on to the next branch.  
  
Eventually, very carefully, she settled herself into Inuyasha's lap. She looked at him, feeling slightly unnerved. Still, she was relieved that he showed no signs of wakefulness.  
  
She relaxed into him, copying his position. She lay with her head on his left shoulder, in the same upright position with her feet dangling below her.  
  
She closed her eyes and fell asleep very quickly. It was very comfortable... there... in his lap, touching his warm skin, feeling his chest rise and fall. She felt very safe, this felt like a very familiar place.  
  
Inuyasha was indeed awake... this entire time. Pretending to shift around in his sleep, he moved, flopping each of his arms over her in a loose sort of hug. He carefully tightened his grip.  
  
She would not escape to her time now.  
  
If she had looked up at him, she would have seen that he had the craziest grin ever, right now. He almost felt like laughing.  
  
Capturing such a prized creature was just so easy. It was amazing. He was proud of himself.  
  
After silently gloating for some time, he too, fell asleep.  
  
"COCK A DOODLE-DOO!" A child exclaimed repeatedly while running through the village and flapping his imaginary wings.  
  
At some point in the night, Inuyasha must have sent Shippo away, for he was gone now.  
  
Kagome squeezed her eyes tighter and then opened them up a little. She knew that kid from somewhere. Then, it dawned upon her. That was one of Sango and Miroku's little ones. Did they know that he was missing? Kagome jolted up. Or rather, she tried to jolt up. Inuyasha's tight grip prevented her moving that far. It felt like being trapped in a seatbelt which was bracing itself for impact. It was tight, uncomfortable and frustrating.  
  
Kagome turned around and faced her captor: Inuyasha!  
  
"Morning, Kagome." He said smugly.  
  
"Let me go, Inuyasha!" She demanded.  
  
"Why should I?" He smiled.  
  
"Because if you don't I'll make you fall to your death!"  
  
"If you do it then you will fall too."  
  
"Let me GO!" Kagome screamed, kicking at him violently.  
  
Even her best efforts didn't really hurt him much. He put his legs over her and held her arms closer to him.  
  
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!" Kagome screamed.  
  
People started to gather around them, watching the hostage situation. About fifty people were gawking at them.  
  
"PLEASE! HELP ME!" Kagome cried to the onlookers.  
  
One spectator spoke up. "We'd like to, miss. We really would. We just don't know how to reach you up there."  
  
"Now you can stay here forever." Inuyasha told her.  
  
"Let me go!" She jerked around futilely. Tears dripped down her face. "Let me go...this hurts..."  
  
"Kagome..." He sounded sad. He loosened his grip on her just a bit, but she was still quite helpless.  
  
"Inuyasha... please, let me go free... if you let me leave, I'll take off your rosary. We can both be free, please?" She pleaded.  
  
Inuyasha looked thoughtful. Kagome bit her trembling lip while he thought it over.  
  
"Alright. Take off my rosary, then I'll let go of you."  
  
"Promise?"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
He let go of her arms and she, reaching behind her, felt for the rosary and gently removed it.  
  
He released her completely. "Thank you, Inuyasha... I'm glad that you came to your senses."  
  
He took the rosary in his hands and chucked it onto the ground far beneath them, Inuyasha's branch was quite far above the one that Kagome had chosen for herself originally. It had to be at least thirty feet up... at least.  
  
Kagome looked at him oddly, surprised at his actions. She didn't have much time to gawk though, because as soon as the beads hit the ground he lunged at her and grabbed her even tighter than before.  
  
"I win! I outsmarted you, now you HAVE to stay with me."  
  
Kagome started to cry harder and scream all she could. "You didn't outsmart me, You broke a promise!"  
  
"No I didn't, I promised to let you go, then I did, then I grabbed you up again. I did let you go, just like you wanted."  
  
Kagome trembled. "HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPPP MMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! SOMEONE!!!!! HELP!!! RAPE!" She screamed to the village below.  
  
Kagome could see Sango and Miroku within the crowd, with twelve little children around them.  
  
Kagome couldn't hear what they were saying. They looked desperately at each other. Kagome hoped that they could help her... still, as she knew from her own past: Inuyasha was unbeatable.  
  
Kagome sobbed bitterly. She tried to speak to the crowd but the words died in her mouth. She could only scream her garbled message. She ceased to make sense. Soon, she just cried and cried.  
  
"Kagome, please... don't cry... you're making me seem like a monster. You like me, don't you?" Inuyasha tried to reason with her.  
  
"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLPPPPPPPPP!" She managed.  
  
"Kagome! Stop it!" He ordered.  
  
Helpless and defeated, she did. She stopped. She stopped screaming. She just looked idly downward, Everyone in the village was right below her.  
  
On the ground, Sango was holding the discarded prayer beads with two hands. She looked at them woefully, knowing now how completely helpless her dear friend was. Kagome did not cry out, but silent tears fell from her and made the ground far below wet.  
  
Suddenly, she felt a spark of hope rise in her heart. Miroku had thrown a long rope over a branch next to theirs. He had tied one end to himself, and Sango was pulling the other end. Through this method, Miroku came to be in the tree with them.  
  
"Lady Kagome," He addressed her. "Why did you discard the prayer beads?"  
  
Kagome felt so glad to see a friendly face up here that she felt words almost return to her.  
  
"'e (sob) 'aid (whimper) let go... (sniff) ...didn't." She sputtered out.  
  
"It's gonna be okay." He comforted her from a few feet away. "I promise." He assured her.  
  
Somehow, Kagome felt that the monk's promise was better even though Inuyasha could normally be considered more trustworthy.  
  
She smiled as more tears fell from her, she continued to sob, just from the momentum of the heavy sobs from before. She couldn't stop... not just yet. She still felt herself to be in danger.  
  
"Inuyasha, you must let Kagome go."  
  
"No way!" Inuyasha shouted back stubbornly. "You're all just angry because I outsmarted everyone!"  
  
"That's not true!" The monk asserted. "Everyone's upset because you've kidnapped your ex-girlfriend."  
  
Inuyasha got a little angry. "She's not my EX-girlfriend. She's my GIRLFRIEND!"  
  
Kagome continued to cry. "... Not... TRUE!" she sputtered out.  
  
"Inuyasha, just because you say it, doesn't make it true. Right now, you are no better than Koga. Think of what Koga did, kidnapping Kagome, calling her his mate. You remember how wrong he was. You remember how much you hated him for that. If you really do love Kagome, you'll let her go. Can't you see how much she's hurting. Look at her... crying like this. You hate to see her cry. Don't make her cry so much." The monk pleaded with him.  
  
In a state of sheer shock, Inuyasha released Kagome. He buried himself in thought.  
  
While Inuyasha was still thinking, Miroku grabbed Kagome and returned the the branch that he came from, still cradling her.  
  
"Sango! lower us! Hurry, just don't drop us!" Miroku yelled to her while pointing down, just so that she would get the message.  
  
Thanks to Sango and Miroku, Kagome safely reached the ground.  
  
She hugged Miroku. Then she hugged Sango.  
  
"Run to the well, Kagome." Sango instructed her.  
  
"Thank you, I love you both. I'll always remember this" She wanted to say. However, she wasn't all that articulate right now, she sniffed, nodded and ran away. She hoped that they got her message somehow. 


	8. Persistance builds Character and Injurie...

Shippo rolled over, sweating. It was now the hottest part of the day. The green leaves of the Goshinboku tree touched against he face. This was an unpleasant sensation, it was itchy and weird.  
  
He hopped down to a branch that was down and to the left. This was the very same branch were Kagome and Inuyasha had spent last night together.  
  
As he grew more awake, he remembered last nights events. He had begged Kagome to stay. Reluctantly she had agreed. He remembered Inuyasha beating him upside the head and knocking him out.  
  
Surely Kagome didn't leave without saying goodbye. Shippo slowly climbed down the trunk of the tree, ignoring his squirrely rivals who were watching him from the tree's billowy flesh of leaves.  
  
He walked through the village in search of Kagome. It occurred to him that perhaps Kagome was visiting with Sango and Miroku. He made that his first stop.  
  
He would have entered their hut, but he saw Inuyasha and Miroku having a rather intimate conversation in the doorway. They spoke in hushed tones. Shippo hid and listened.  
  
"Inuyasha, you really screwed up."  
  
"I know..."  
  
"But... I don't think that she'll never forgive you." Miroku reassured him.  
  
"I should go find her and apologize... shouldn't I?"  
  
Shippo gawked at this... Inuyasha was willing to apologize for something? Weird!  
  
"That's mighty big of you, Inuyasha. Normally I would say that. However, today I'm going to tell you to leave her alone."  
  
"Why should I leave her alone?" Inuyasha seemed surprised. "She's upset! I should definetly go apologize to her!"  
  
"Yes, Inuyasha. Those are both facts, Kagome is upset, and you should apologize... Just not TODAY!"  
  
"I'm going to go find her and apologize, I feel really awful about this."  
  
Inuyasha started walking off and Miroku seized his shirt. "Listen, Inuyasha! I'm not suggesting, I'm telling! Leave her alone! This isn't just about how you feel. Let Kagome have a day without you to start recovering from this mess."  
  
Inuyasha yanked Miroku's hand off of him. "It's never helped us to wait each other out. That's how we ended up not talking for nineteen years!"  
  
"That's different, Inuyasha!" Miroku insisted. "You are not waiting her out, she is not going to come back and see you. You will go and apologize LATER, you are waiting knowing that you are going to apologize. This is different from all of your other little fights. Let Kagome scream and cry by herself for a while. Let her scold her mother, have a bath, buy some new locks for her doors and some weapons... then... when she feels a little more secure she might not KILL you for harrassing her further!"  
  
"I don't want to let Kagome cry! I hate it when she cries!" Inuyasha insisted.  
  
"That being said, you shouldn't go off and make her cry more. Right now, you are absolutely not a comfort to her. She is going to cry. When being held captive by you, someone whom she once trusted, made her miserable, do you really think that you can comfort her? I know what you want to do... you want hug her and let her come crying to you if she's going to cry at all. This time, however, you are the one who made her cry, if you touch her again today she is going to scream so loudly that whole world will hear her."  
  
Inuyasha pouted. He sagged his shoulders and threw his head up. He sighed. "I feel so guilty about this... I can't believe that I upset her so badly."  
  
Miroku put his hand on Inuyasha's shoulder. "I know, old friend. This is very hard for you, but remember, Kagome is one of the most forgiving people out there."  
  
Shippo looked on in shock. What in the hell happened? Surely he didn't miss that much! How could there be such a big fight without him waking up? This must be why Inuyasha beat him up. He must have known that something big was going to go down and he didn't want him to be conscious for it. Why would Inuyasha do something this stupid on purpose?  
  
"Miroku... I'm going to get out of here. Everyone in this village is apt to kill me the next wrong move I make."  
  
"Just remember... Don't go bother Kagome today! No matter how tempting it may be!"  
  
"Oh what are you going to do to me if I try?"  
  
"I'll tell you what I'm not going to do... I'm not going save you when Kagome tries to kill you!"  
  
"Fine, fine!" Inuyasha said as he stalked off. "I won't go see her today."  
  
"Have a nice day!" Miroku called after him, sort of laughing at him.  
  
Inuyasha simply blew a raspberry at him and kept walking.  
  
As soon as Inuyasha was out of sight, Shippo rushed into Miroku's hut.  
  
Right now, the hut only contained Miroku. Sango had taken Kirara and the children out somewhere.  
  
"Miroku! Tell me what happened!" Shippo exclaimed.  
  
"Shippo... where were you this morning?" Miroku looked at him puzzledly.  
  
"I was knocked out in the Goshinboku tree! Inuyasha knocked me out last night before he did whatever he did this morning, now spill it!"  
  
"Oh.. This morning, Inuyasha refused to let her leave. He held her so tight that she couldn't move. He tricked her into taking off his rosary and then he wouldn't let her go, no matter how much she screamed and cried. It was left up to me to remove her from the tree."  
  
Shippo looked grieved by this information. "I should have never asked her to spend the night."  
  
Miroku petted Shippo's head. "It's not really your fault, Shippo. Everyone is just a victim of circumstance today."  
  
"So, is Kagome really gone?" Shippo looked at Miroku sadly.  
  
"Yes, you could see her.. but.. the only one who can take you is Inuyasha, and the thing is..."  
  
"I know, I heard you talking." Shippo cut him off.  
  
"I see." Miroku said, trying his best to sound wise. It was one of his favorite things to do: sound smarter than everyone else.  
  
"It sure does suck that Kagome left that way..." Shippo said as he began to trod out of the hut.  
  
"Try not to be too hard on Inuyasha."  
  
"I'll try." Shippo said upon leaving.  
  
Miroku let out an exaggerated sigh. "No-one ever pays any attention to me! I don't see why Inuyasha gets all of the glory!... I'm going to take a nap." Miroku told himself as he slumped down onto his bed.  
  
Shippo knew exactly where he'd find Inuyasha. Shippo sat down against the well. He kept an eye out for Inuyasha. He knew that Inuyasha was trying his hardest not to come here. He also knew that Inuyasha would no doubt be here soon.  
  
In under five minutes, Shippo saw Inuyasha coming towards the well. He hid behind it, and as Inuyasha arrived and was contemplating jumping in, Shippo jumped out at him.  
  
"Stop right there!" Shippo commanded. "You are not supposed to bother Kagome today!"  
  
"How do you know about that? I knocked you out, runt!" Inuyasha demanded of him.  
  
Shippo smugly stepped on the surface of the well. Seeing as it was mid-afternoon, the wood was burning hot. Feeling his feet burning Shippo jumped back onto the grass, trying very hard to maintain his smug expression. "Yes, you did. However, being the great detective that I am, I already know what is going on."  
  
"Great detective? Yeah right, great eavesdropper is more like it."  
  
"Call it what you want. You are not supposed to bother Kagome today and you know it."  
  
"Butt out, Shippo." Inuyasha said while stepping onto the rim of the well.  
  
Shippo grabbed onto the back of Inuyasha's shirt. "No! Leave Kagome alone!"  
  
"Why don't you stop being such a goody two-shoes and come with me?" Inuyasha asked.  
  
Without even pausing for consideration Shippo declared, "No! I will not have Kagome hating me too!"  
  
Inuyasha waited a few more seconds, despite the pain his feet were experiencing. "You thinks she hates me?"  
  
"Yeah, probably." Shippo told him honestly.  
  
"Then I've got to fix that!"  
  
"NO!" Shippo yelled as Inuyasha jumped in the well. Shippo did not let go of Inuyasha's clothes, but he also held onto the hot wood of the well with all of his might.  
  
Shippo did not succeed in keeping Inuyasha there, instead he ended up with a right hand that hurt and a left hand full of torn, red and white, clothing.  
  
Grouchy at his failure, he marched back to Miroku. Miroku was sitting in his bed and stewing. "I tried to stop him." Shippo taddled on Inuyasha.  
  
"Stupid dog!" The monk declared and slammed his pillow down in frustration. 


	9. Red Roses or White Roses?

Inuyasha came through the well, for the first time in nineteen years. Surprisingly enough, he didn't even notice it really. It had become a very unconscious action. It was such a routine thing, like walking through a door.  
  
He jumped out into the wellhouse and then started searching the main shrine for her. He was not successful in finding her. He did, however, manage to stumble upon her mother.  
  
"Inuyasha!" She exclaimed as she happily tweaked his ears. "I'm so happy to see you! Can I call you son, now?"  
  
"What?... no. Things aren't looking that positive. Where is Kagome anyway?" He asked her.  
  
"She's at her apartment."  
  
"Her where?"  
  
"Her apartment. It's the place where she lives."  
  
"She moved out? Man, that makes things less convienient." He looked downtrodden. Now he would not only have to deal with Kagome, but he would also have to worry about tracking her down. He sighed.  
  
"Buck up, Son!" Kagome's mom said while playfully patting his arm. "I'll take you right to her, and I'll help you make up with her!"  
  
"You're really going to help me?" His expression brightened.  
  
She smiled and hugged him. "You two are going to have to most beautiful children! I can't wait!"  
  
"Oh I see! You're using me to get grandchildren! You don't actually care about my situation." He crossed his arms.  
  
"Of course I care about you, son. But I do want grandchildren! There's no denying that. Now hop in my car!" She walked out of the shrine to her car, he followed her.  
  
"Normally, I'd object to you using me like this, but I could use your help with this." He said as he tried to pull the car door open without the use of the handle.  
  
"Oh, dear! Use the handle, honey! Like this." Kagome's mom ran over and opened the passenger door.  
  
Once she had him settled into the car, she got in and began to drive. "You can explain this contraption to me later. First tell me where this apartment is."  
  
"Oh it's about ten blocks from here, but that's not where were going right now."  
  
"WHAT?! You mean you tricked me? Where are you REALLY taking me?" He got nervous. Just as a thief guards his possessions especially heavily, he was especially nervous about trickery today because he had pulled such a nasty trick.  
  
"I'm not tricking you. I just don't want you to show up empty handed. First I am going to buy you some flowers and chocolates to give to her, then we can go see her."  
  
"Oh... okay." He calmed down.  
  
"You know, you really are paranoid, son. What did you fight about anyway?"  
  
"I don't want to talk about it..." He said as she parked the car in the parking lot of a local MegaMart.  
  
"Oh come on..." she said as she got out. She helped him to get out of her car without damaging it. "You can tell me, I promise I won't make a big deal about it."  
  
"You promise?" He asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You really really promise?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"You really promise that it's a real promise and not a trick promise?"  
  
"Good grief, you are paranoid! YES! YES ALREADY!"  
  
"Okay..." He said as they walked through the parking lot. "I convinced Kagome to sleep with me.. NOT SLEEP WITH ME! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN! I mean, I was in a tree, and she was in a tree and she slept on top of me! OH THAT DIDN'T SOUND GOOD! What I mean is..."  
  
"Yeah, okay, I get it! You didn't have sex!" She let out an exaggerated sigh. "What did happen?"  
  
"Well, I grabbed her and I didn't let her go. I didn't want to let her go home..."  
  
"Uh-huh... then what?" She asked as they went through the doors. She picked a shopping cart. First thing she saw was a case of boquets. Kagome's mom started to look through them.  
  
"Then she tried to bargain with me so I said that I would let her go if she took off my rosary. Then she took it off and I let go of her just to grab her up again. I kept my promise... sorta."  
  
"That was a nasty trick..." She said nonchalantly "Red roses or white roses?"  
  
"What's the difference?" He asked her.  
  
"Red roses are very romantic, White roses are very sweet and are more often a friendship gesture than a sexual one."  
  
"Well, seeing as I'm in love with her... you should get the red ones." He told her.  
  
Mrs. Higurashi set both boquets down and hugged him again. "Oh you are so wonderful, son. I never imagined that you'd be so willing!" She picked up the white roses and put them in the shopping cart.  
  
"Then why are you getting the white ones?!" He asked incredulously.  
  
"Well, we don't want to overwhelm her. If you come on too strongly, she'll push you away just as strongly."  
  
"Really? That's bizarre, but I think I've seen that happen before. Tell me all you know!"  
  
"In time, grasshopper, in time..." Mrs. Higurashi told him very slyly.  
  
"So tell me about the flowers and the chocolates... why do we need them exactly?"  
  
"Because they are nice things. They are nice little things that girls like. You want to show her that you are going to try your best to make her happy. The fact that you love a girl isn't enough. Haven't heard heard the song "girls just wanna have fun"?"  
  
"You know I haven't, but continue anyway."  
  
"The fact that you love a person isn't the only thing that matters. Kagome isn't going to marry you and stay with you just because you love her. She's got to believe that that is the happiest thing that she can do with her life."  
  
"But then why is the love thing so important?"  
  
"Because the love thing causes you to want to make the other person happy. If the person trusts that you love them, they also trust that you are going to want to make them happy. You say that you love Kagome, so you do want to make her happy, don't you?"  
  
"Well, yes, but I just assumed that being with me would make her happy. I didn't know that it was complicated at all."  
  
"Yes, you see. Being with you will make her happy if she returns your love. There are a bunch of happy feelings that come with love like: appreciation, respect, possesiveness. All kinds of things."  
  
"I want to tell Kagome that I love her, but I did tell her and she doesn't believe me." He confessed to her.  
  
"Well, is it because you've been unfaithful?"  
  
"NO!... um... not in a really long time, and that's not the problem anyway. She doesn't believe that love is a real thing." Sweat covered his face when he heard her question.  
  
"That's not a huge problem." Mrs. Higurashi told him.  
  
"How? How that not a HUGE problem?!"  
  
"All you have to do is tell her about all of the little things you like about her. The other things that you feel about her that you feel compose the word love. She won't disbelieve all the little truths that you tell her."  
  
"Oh, I see. You're even better at this than Miroku."

"Miroku, huh? How many kids does he have, probably not as many as me!" Mrs. Higurashi insisted, trying to demonstrate why her advice was better.  
  
"Miroku's got twelve." he said as Mrs. Higurashi put a box of chocolates in the shopping cart.  
  
"Tweleve kids?! Wow, take all of the advice that you can from him!" They entered the "Ten Items or Less" lane.  
  
"You know, I was deliberately not taking his advice in coming here. He very told me very sternly not to come today. He said that I should give Kagome a day to stop hating me before I went to apologize to her."  
  
As their two items were bagged, Mrs. Higurashi held her chin in her thumb and forefinger. "That is good advice." She sounded thoughtful.  
  
"Does that mean that we aren't going now?" Inuyasha seemed a little concerned that she would not take him to Kagome after all.  
  
"No of course not!" She perked up. She handed some cash to the checker and they left the store together.


	10. Tramp on a Trampoline

"Alright, remember what we rehearsed?" Mrs. Higurashi asked as he got out of the car.  
  
"Yes." He said, picking up the roses and box of chocolates.  
  
"What are the main points?"  
  
"Apologize, don't come on too strongly, be friendly, remind her of the good times, and tell her all the little things I like about her."  
  
"Good job! Now go get her, son!" Inuyasha blushed slightly, shut the car door and headed up to Kagome's room.  
  
As Inuyasha got in the elevator, he found himself surrounded by a group of silly teenagers. They had strange clothing with fake animal parts.  
  
He pressed the 3 button.  
  
"Oh that's my floor too." said a girl with a cat ears headband. "Are you in town for the anime convention?"  
  
Inuyasha shrugged, wanting very badly to get away from them.  
  
"You must have come a long way to get here, you don't look Japanese. You know, with the white hair..." She rocked back and forth while blushing.  
  
He didn't know how to answer this. "I am Japanese, but... I'm in my seventies, so it's understandable that I have white hair." He thought this was a good excuse.  
  
The girl giggled. "Aww, you're so cute! Can I call you grampa then?"  
  
"Sure..." He said as the door opened on the second floor.  
  
"I hope you stop by my room later, Grampa. I'm in room 307." She winked at him.  
  
He jumped out as the doors were closing.  
  
"Why are you getting out on the second floor?" She asked right as the doors separated them.  
  
"I'll take the stairs! Bye!" He shouted. He sighed with relief and located the staircase.  
  
He walked down the hallway. "Room 308, 307 (shudder), 306, 305, landry?, 304, 303, 302! Here we go."  
  
He saw the doorbell, but ignored it. He knocked.  
  
"Who is it?" Kagome called.  
  
Inuyasha was afraid to reveal himself so he knocked again.  
  
"I'm coming!" Kagome shouted.  
  
He waited, and finally she came to the door. It didn't really take all that long, but... because he was so nervous it certainly felt like a long time.  
  
When Kagome came to the door, he saw that her eyes were bloodshot, her hair was wet and she was wearing a baggy sweatshirt and some old blue jeans. "Inuyasha!" she gasped. She tried to slam the door, but he stopped it from shutting using his arm.  
  
"These are for you," he said, holding out the goodies but still leaning against the door.  
  
Kagome did not take them. "What are you doing here? How did you find me?"  
  
"I wanted to apologize. I'm really sorry that I tricked you. I want to make it up to you." He truly did look sorry.  
  
Kagome took a post-it note and a marker and started scribbling on it. "Listen, Inuyasha, you did not TRICK me, you broke a promise! You held me prisoner, and it wasn't fair. Now you've shown up at my home expecting me to forgive you and come running back! Well guess what, BUSTER, I'm not that easy!" She slammed her post-it note on the frame of the door.  
  
"Kagome, I don't expect you to forget all this so soon, I just want you to know that I'm sorry. I lost my mind for a little while there. Please, give me a second chance to make things right..." He tried to push the door further, but it shocked him. "What the hell?"  
  
"It's o-fuda, stupid!" She drew up another one and held it up for him to see. "You think I can't make my own o-fuda? You must really think I'm weak. I know you think I'm weak, but come on, Inuyasha! I'm not stupid!"  
  
"Kagome, there's no need to get insulting, I said I was sorry!"  
  
She threw the new piece of o-fuda at him. It hurt just a little bit, but it mostly just startled him.  
  
He jumped back a little ways, out of the doorway.  
  
She slammed the door. "Now stop bothering me at home!" she screamed through the now closed door.  
  
"Oh Kagome! Don't be that way!"  
  
Kagome turned up the TV to it's loudest setting to prevent any comments of his from leaking through the walls.  
  
Inuyasha sighed at his defeat. He flopped the flowers and chocolates into the bend of his left arm. He didn't care about them anymore. A lot of good they did. He slowly went down the stairs.  
  
He left the building. He noticed Mrs. Higurashi in the parking lot. He gave her a thumbs-down sign.  
  
"I failed," he told her.  
  
She frowned briefly, just to acknowlege him. Then, she looked up, smiling. She patted his arm. "Don't worry, son, try, try again!"  
  
"I can't get in the door! She cast me out! She put a spell on her door!" he told her in dismay.  
  
"That's why I always have a back-up plan!" she declared. She popped open her trunk.  
  
She pulled out a small trampoline.  
  
"What are you going to do with that?" he asked.  
  
"The question isn't what I'm going to do with it, it's what you're going to do with it."  
  
"And what's that...?"  
  
"You are going to use it to talk to her via window. You just jump up and down on it and you'll be able to talk to her a few seconds at a time." She sounded proud of herself for her great plan.  
  
"That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard," he told her.  
  
"Well, then what do you intend to do, then?" she asked, aggravated that he rejected her fine plan.  
  
"...... alright... set up the damn thing."  
  
She smiled as she moved the trampoline to a spot directly below her daughter's window.  
  
Inuyasha sighed and jumped on. He flew up into the air. As he passed Kagome's window he shouted: "Kagome!" Then he was above the window. He reached the fifth floor before he started to decend.  
  
Kagome walked up to the window, intrigued.  
  
On the way down Inuyasha tossed the flowers and candy onto Kagome's sofa. "I want to tell you how I feel about you!" He yelled so that she could hear him.  
  
Kagome watched him.  
  
He bounced again. "Remember how you let me sleep in your lap when..." he flew up past the window, and on the way down he shouted, "we fought the spiderheads?"  
  
He sunk down towards the trampoline.  
  
Kagome smiled warmly at the memory he brought back.  
  
He rose to window level again. "Remember how you didn't force me to choose..." He passed her window.  
  
He returned. "...between you and Kikyo? You were content just to be with me!"  
  
Kagome smiled a little bit more, and edged closer to the window. People were starting to come out and gawk at him because he was yelling so loudly. Kagome turned off her TV.  
  
"We had a million little happy moments, Kagome!" He shouted as he went for another pass. "I completely like you!" He told her on the way down.  
  
Kagome pulled up a chair and rested her arms on the window's frame.  
  
"I like the way your eyes sparkle when I make you happy!" He rose past her again. "I like your tiny little waist!"  
  
She looked down and blushed, but she continued to smile. She followed him with her eyes. "I like the way your hair flows down your back!" He flew up again.  
  
And on the way down he shouted, "I like the way your butt shakes back and forth when you walk!"  
  
Kagome turned bright red. She slammed the window shut and closed the blinds. This sound was heard simultaneously with the sound of Mrs. Higurashi's hand slapping against her forehead.  
  
Inuyasha hopped down off of the trampoline. "What did I do wrong? I was telling the truth."  
  
"It's kind of an invisble, unspoken rule. You are supposed to like Kagome's body. But... there are only certain times in which you can get away with admitting it."  
  
"I'm confused. She didn't get mad about me talking about her waist, or her eyes. Why is her butt different?"  
  
"There's no actual reason... it's just a sociatal faux pas. Okay, I'll make this simple: You know that two-piece bathing suit she has?"  
  
Inuyasha blushed. "Yes..."  
  
"Alright, you must be careful when talking about anything which that little bathing suit covers."  
  
"So that little bit of her back... I can't talk about that?"  
  
"No, what I mean is..." She embarrassedly covered her face in her hands. She looked up and tried again. "What I mean is that... you can't talk about... her breasts... her butt, her vagina... that kind of stuff. I mean... I guess you can talk about them sometimes, but you really shouldn't scream about them. Just make sure that Kagome gives you the go-ahead."  
  
Inuyasha looked skeptical. "So mean she's just going to say one day, 'Okay, Inuyasha, you can talk about my butt now.'?!"  
  
"No, no! You have to kind of read her mind a little. It's all part of moving slowly, you have to test the waters a little bit at a time, understand?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Oh, nevermind!" She threw up her hands in frustration. "Let's just go home. You'll watch Friends until you understand."  
  
He sighed, and with that they got in the car and returned to the shrine. 


	11. Suzy Bakes Cookies

After forcing him to pull an all nighter watching Friends, Mrs. Higurashi had allowed him to take a nap in Sota's old bed. Inuyasha opened his eyes, the clock on the wall read 2:56 with a little dot in the upper left hand corner. The dot indicated that it was P.M. Inuyasha did not care about this one little bit.  
  
He walked out into the living room, rubbing his eyes. He yawned. Mrs. Higurashi was sitting on the sofa surrounded by phone books. She was holding some scissors in her hand and had cut out around twenty pages. She had them on a stack on the coffee table.  
  
"What are you doing?" He asked her.  
  
She cut out three more pages and set the phone books idly next to her. "I'm just taking some precations."  
  
She put all her pages in a little stack, she handed them to Inuyasha. "Do me a favor, will ya, son?"  
  
"Um... what?"  
  
"Go shread these for me." She pointed to a paper shredder on the other side of the room.  
  
"Um... sure." He walked over to the side of the room that she had indicated. While he was walking, he looked at the stack of papers. Every single one of them contained at least one listing for a nursing home.  
  
Inuyasha tossed them into the air and, using his claws, he shredded them into little pieces of yellow confetti.  
  
"Good enough." She inwardly groaned at how much vacuuming she was going to have to do. "I'm going to drop you off at the library where Kagome works. You find a reason to stay there. I'll pick you up at 7:30 when it closes."  
  
"What am I supposed to do at a library? I can't read all that well..."  
  
"It doesn't matter, read kiddy books if you've got to. Just find a reason, hopefully Kagome will become accustomed to you again."  
  
"Like when that guy stayed at Bloomingdale's buying a whole new wardrobe just to hang out with Rachel?"  
  
"Yes. Exactly like that. You have learned well, grasshopper. Now get in my car."  
  
Inuyasha traveled with Mrs. Higurashi to the library, she let him out and drove away.  
  
He came into the library as stealthily as he possibly could. He got in without being spotted by Kagome. He ducked in between two shelves and sighed with relief.  
  
"I guess I'd better pick out a book so that I don't look suspicious." He told himself. He looked at all of the books. They were all dull and worn, they were thick hard-backs. He picked one out at random. It was full of words that he didn't know.  
  
A young woman walked up next to him carrying a cart of books. She started inserting them into their proper places. She was dressed formally (like Kagome), but only from the neck down. Her hair was curly and flew every which way through her colorful headband. She had many teeny freckles scattered across her face making her seem even more sunny. She wore little necklaces of rainbow beads (obviously made by children) around her neck. She was a very cheerful sort of woman.  
  
She almost didn't notice him. She glanced over at him, smiling brightly. "Hi, there." She said cheerfully, still shelving books.  
  
"Hi..." He said, figeting. He felt rather out of place.  
  
"Are you looking for anything?" She asked him.  
  
"Nothing specific... I want to find a book to read, but... I can't read this."  
  
"Oh?" She gently took the book from him. "This is some rather advanced reading. What kind of books do you normally read?" She asked him.  
  
"I... uh... I dunno... I don't read very much... I'm not good at it."  
  
"Oh I see," she said, not trying to embarrass him. "Then why don't we try the children's section?"  
  
She abandoned the cart and walked away from him. She wanted him to follow her so he did.  
  
She led him to a section of the library where all of the shelves were short and colorful. The books were tiny and looked like fun to read. There were a few little, bright, plastic beanbag chairs. This section of the library seemed much more welcoming to him.  
  
She bent down and picked up a book with a picture of a lady bug on the front. She opened it to a random page and held it up to him. "About how many words on this page can you make out?" She asked him. She was being so motherly to him that he couldn't help but like her.  
  
He smiled at her. Then he quickly looked down at the page. "Um... some of them." He said.  
  
She put it back and selected another one for him. "How about this one?" She asked.  
  
"I can read most of the words." He told her honestly.  
  
"Alright." She sounded very supportive. "Why don't you try it?"  
  
He sat down into a little purple bean bag chair. He was slightly surprised at all of the air that bursted forth from the chair when he did. He stared at the book, kind of wanting her to go away.  
  
"Read it out loud, please." She told him. She leaned over and looked at the book from over his shoulder.  
  
He his cheeks felt hot with a blush. He cleared his throat... three times. Then he started: "Suzy likes to bake .... Suzy likes to bake..."  
  
"Sound it out..."  
  
He could feel that she was smiling at him, but he almost would have felt better if she had been making fun of him. "Suzy likes to bake... c... c-oo cookies... cookies! Suzy likes to bake cookies. She makes cho... chocholaate.. oh chocolate! cookies. She makes peanutbutt..er.. cookies. Suzy likes to bake cookies with her mot.. her.. motter? What's a motter?"  
  
"Nothing, what's a motter with you?" The woman joked, seeing that he wasn't laughing she pretended that the joke didn't happen. "It has a 't-h' it makes a 'thuh' sound." She told him.  
  
"Mo-thuh-er?" he sounded incredulous for a second until it dawned upon him: "Mother." he said proudly.  
  
He looked up at the woman and she smiled at him. She patted his head. "Good job," she told him. I'm going to go back to shelving books, but if you need me just call out "AMMMMMYYYYY!" and I'll come!" She didn't actually shout, she simply whispered it and changed her pitch a bit to simulate shouting. She walked off in her light and happy fashion.  
  
Inuyasha stayed there reading out loud, hoping very much that no-one would hear him. He didn't read every word in the book but he did understand it anyway. The book ended with Suzy selling her cookies at a bake sale and making lots of money.  
  
He closed the book and returned it to the general area that the book had come from. He felt like following Amy. Even he knew better than to shout in a library. Amy was treating him like a little kid, little kids can get away with shouting a name just about anywhere.  
  
He walked through the library. He looked in each little aisle of bookcases individually. He kept an eye out for both Kagome and Amy. He really had no clue why he was following Amy. Something about her was just so sunny and nurturing that one couldn't really help wanting to follow. His reasons weren't sexual. He wasn't in love with Amy, he would never admit to himself that he liked the way that she was treating him.  
  
He found her in the biography section putting a book on the bottom shelf. He stood there waiting for her to look at him.  
  
She finally saw him there. "Hello again." She said very pleasantly. She didn't seem all that surprised.  
  
"Hi," he said, while getting strangely nervous.  
  
She smiled at him. "Do you want to be my friend?" She asked him, overflowing with her lovely attitude.  
  
He nodded. He felt his face turn hot. He had no idea why he was being so bashful. One thing was for sure, he really hoped that she couldn't see him blushing.  
  
"Great! Glad to have you! What's your name?" She stood up on her tiptoes and gleefully messed up his hair.  
  
"I-Inuyasha."  
  
"Inuyasha?" She paused. "Where do I know that name...? Oh I know... you wouldn't happen to be THE Inuyasha?"  
  
"The Inuyasha? Are there others?"  
  
"What I mean is... do you happen to be the Inuyasha that Kagome talks about? Do you know someone named Kagome?" She looked a little worried.  
  
"Kagome talks about me?!"  
  
"Oh dear... oh dear..." she said to herself.  
  
"What does she say?"  
  
"Oh dear me... I don't want to get into the middle of this..." She looked a little pale.  
  
"Did she say what I did to her these past days?"  
  
She looked up at him curiously. "No... I ... didn't know that she'd seen you in years... you seem very different from the way that she described you... oh dear..."  
  
"If she didn't tell you about what happened recently, why are you so afraid of getting involved with me?"  
  
"It's just... I don't want to get Kagome ranting about love... she's... it's just... It can't be healthy for her... or for me."  
  
"She rants?" He was perplexed.  
  
She looked all around herself and then she whispered to him: "Not just that, she treats love like it's some kind of illness. One time I came in here, my boyfriend Ichiro had dropped me off at work. We were smiling and being happy... touching affectionately, just our hands touching, mind you. We weren't being indecent. Then, Kagome saw us. I said, 'this is my new boyfriend Ichiro, isn't he wonderful?' Kagome kind of scowled at me. I got a little nervous, I didn't want to make her upset... you know, with her being my boss and all. So I said goodbye to Ichiro and made my way to my desk. Just then, unexpectedly, Kagome placed her hand on my shoulder in a very loving way and she said this. I'm not kidding, she really said this: 'Don't worry, you're just confused right now. I'm sure that there's still a chance for you to recover your senses. I'll be right here for you the whole time.' She acted like I was sick! I don't want to give her reason to talk about love. She makes you question everything that you've ever believed in!"  
  
"Shit... this is worse than I thought..."  
  
Amy crossed her arms and shook her head disapprovingly. "What did you say?"  
  
"Shit, this is worse than I thought?" He gulped. He had no idea why this woman was making him feel so... insecure.  
  
"We don't say that word around here, it isn't nice."  
  
"Um.. sorry."  
  
Her firm expression melted away to her usual smile. "It's okay, Inuyasha!" She messed up his hair again. "Just don't do it again, k?"  
  
Inuyasha nodded. "Can you help me, Amy?"  
  
"Help you how?" She wondered if he wanted help to stop cursing or help learning how to read or... what?  
  
"I want Kagome to marry me... she isn't even talking to me though."  
  
Amy looked kind of pale now. "I don't... know what I can do for you. You sure picked a tough case."  
  
He sighed, leaning against the half-empty cart of books. "Oh Amy! she didn't used to be such a tough case. What on earth happened to make her this way?"  
  
She looked at her surroundings carefully. "Let's keep moving, we'll talk and shelve at the same time."  
  
"oh...kay.." He said as they slowly edged to the left, pushing the cart. Every few feet she would stop and put another book away.  
  
"Can you put this one on the top shelf for me?" She asked him, holding out a blue, hardback book.  
  
He took it from her. "Okay... where?"  
  
"between that orange book and the green one."  
  
"Okay, I see." he said. Using his superior height, he easily shelved the book.  
  
Looking carefully at her surroundings, she spoke in a whispered tone, still shelving books. "I believe that something must have happened to her while she was still a teenager. One time she brought me her photo album and I was surprised to see that she had no pictures with any boyfriends after about the age of sixteen. There was only one that I saw, it had you and her in it. I think you two were visiting a shrine of some kind."  
  
"Oh yes, I think I remember her mom taking a picture of us once. It was at her home. Kagome lived at a shrine back then. I don't know when she moved out."  
  
"She lived at a shrine... that must have been cool." Amy marveled.  
  
"How come she let you see her photos, but you don't even know that much about her past."  
  
"Photography is my hobby. I asked her to let me see her photo album and she did. Wasn't that nice?"  
  
"I guess..."  
  
"Don't let me forget to get a picture of you before you leave today."  
  
"Um... okay... so, is that all you know?"  
  
"Well, that's most of what I know. I don't know what happened between you two, but... whatever it was, I think it messed her up pretty bad. Most people doubt themselves or blame the other person, or cry or do something like that when a relationship goes sour... not discredit love itself. Maybe it wasn't entirely you. Maybe there's something else that she isn't telling." She looked around again.  
  
"What do you think that could be?"  
  
In her still muted tone she said, "It occurs to me that it's very risky having such a conversation in this place. We'll meet up again at some point and continue this."  
  
"Okay." He said and started walking back to the children's section.  
  
"Wait up..." He looked at her puzzledly. "I want to get a picture of you before I go." She ran off to pull a rather bulky polaroid camera out of her desk.  
  
She ran up to him.  
  
"K, smile!" She said, holding the camera up over her face.  
  
Inuyasha made a weird face which was his attempt at a smile. He made a victory sign.  
  
The camera popped the picture out and Amy shook it.  
  
As the image appeared, Amy held it out for Inuyasha to see. "I positively adore it!" She told him.  
  
I actually look like that? No wonder she keeps turning me down. He was being silly. He didn't really think that he was ugly. He did however think that this was an awful picture. He really hadn't the heart to tell Amy that he thought so.  
  
Any of you would plainly see that he looked like he was trying to blow a wasp off of his nose.  
  
Amy took a pen out of her front pocket and wrote on the back of the photograph. "This is the place where we shall meet." She told him. She placed the photograph in his hand and disappeared into another aisle, pushing the cart. 


	12. I Spy

Inuyasha turned the photo over. The back read: "Wednesday 6:30 -- 5648 Kireiyama street: apt # 432."  
  
"Wed-nes-da-y...," he read. He sighed. What was he supposed to do until then? It was only Monday now.  
  
Inuyasha was bored with reading by now, and he prefered not to repeat the embarassing learning experience he'd had thanks to Amy.  
  
"I'm bored," he said aloud.  
  
"I'm bored too."  
  
Inuyasha gasped. He turned around. He saw a little boy standing next to him.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Inuyasha asked the kid, letting out a sigh of relief.  
  
"My mother is trying to make me read more, but I'm bored with it."  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Inuyasha told him.  
  
"I know! Let's play I-spy!"  
  
"I-spy?"  
  
"I spy with my little eye something that is orange. Now guess what it is."  
  
"Um, that chair?"  
  
"Yes! Okay, you go now!"  
  
"Um, I spy with my little eye something that is... blue."  
  
########...Meanwhile, at the front desk...#################  
  
The telephone rang and Kagome picked it up. "Downtown Library."  
  
"With whom am I speaking?" The caller asked apprehensively.  
  
"Higurashi Kagome, head librarian."  
  
"Is there anyone else that I could speak with?"  
  
"Hold on." Kagome held to receiver to her breast. "AMY!... AMY?" She called in a whispering tone. She was trying to be the least disruptive that she possibly could.  
  
Kagome waited a few seconds, then she set the phone down and walked off in a brief search for Amy.  
  
Without finding Amy, Kagome picked the phone back up. "No, I'm sorry. What did you need?"  
  
"Are you sure that there's nobody else that I could talk to?"  
  
"Um... yes. What do you need?"  
  
"Well, I need to talk to someone."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"No-one in particular,"  
  
"Who is this?" Kagome asked, getting a little irritated.  
  
"Alright, it's mom."  
  
"Mom! Why are you calling?" Kagome whispered intensely.  
  
"Promise you won't get mad."  
  
"I'm not going to promise. Tell me why you're calling."  
  
"Promise or I won't tell you." Mrs. Higurashi insisted.  
  
"Fine, I won't get mad. Now 'fess up!"  
  
"Alright," she sighed. "Inuyasha is down there, and I was going to pick him up at closing time, but my car broke down."  
  
"Why is Inuyasha down here?"  
  
"I wanted you to get accustomed to him again." Mrs. Higurashi told her.  
  
Kagome rolled her eyes. "Listen, I'll take him home when I leave tonight. What's wrong with your car? Do you need a jump?"  
  
"I'm not exactly sure, but I've already called for a tow truck."  
  
"Okay, I'll see you later. Bye, mom."  
  
"Bye, Kagome."  
  
She hung up the phone, and decided to go looking for Inuyasha. If you were to see her right now, you would be surprised by her countenance. She did not have an angry look on her face.  
  
She was feeling honored in a strange sort of way. She was a little bit surprised that he would go to all of this trouble to be with her, (despite what he had said).  
  
She looked up every aisle. Finally she happened upon him in the juvenille section.  
  
"I spy with my little eye something that is black." The little boy was looking at Kagome's hair.  
  
Inuyasha looked around the room, scanning for the black object and then turned around to face her. He froze. A look of sheer terror overtook his face. His face was as pale as his knuckles were. "K-Kagome!"  
  
"That's right! Your turn now!" The child declared.  
  
Inuyasha's eyes stayed fixed upon her.  
  
"I'm going to be taking you home instead of mother, okay?" She told him in a very calm, informative tone.  
  
"O-kay." He sputtered.  
  
Kagome gave him only a "ta-ta" wave before returning to her desk.  
  
"Oh, my mom's here." The little boy informed the still-frozen Inuyasha.  
  
"Bye." Inuyasha told him, finally turning around.  
  
The little boy had taken his young mother's hand and was walking out. "It was nice to meet you... um?"  
  
"Inuyasha." Inuyasha informed the kid of his name.  
  
"Bye Inuya...!" The kid shouted as his mother pulled him out the door, hiding her embarassment at her kid's public scene.  
  
"What a bitch." Inuyasha thought aloud.  
  
"Inuyasha!" Amy admonished him, "I told you that I don't tolerate that kind of language!"  
  
"Stop sneaking up on me!" He shouted to the world.  
  
Amy 'shh'ed him.  
  
Amy sat down in the plastic orange chair that was standing alone in the section. Upon seeing her, several kids sat down in close proximity to her and watched as she took a book from the shelf next to her.  
  
"Story time, kids!" She announced. At this point, about fifteen more kids, some coming from other sections, gathered around her.  
  
"Story time?" Inuyasha asked.  
  
A little girl tapped him on the knee and he turned to her.  
  
"Shh!" She instructed him. "Just watch."  
  
Inuyasha watched Amy.  
  
"Today's book is: 'Fluffy's Big Adventure!'" She held the book out, and shifted from side to side to make extra sure that everyone got a fair look.  
  
She held away from her face at a one-hundred-and-thirty degree angle and read with her peripheral vision, pausing at the each page to show off the pictures.  
  
"Yoshiro is Fluffy's best friend." Upon seeing the picture, Inuyasha realized that Fluffy was actually an inanimate object; an ambiguiously specified stuffed animal.  
  
"Fluffy cannot sleep at night without Yoshiro there to comfort him in the dark."  
  
"Yoshiro and Fluffy protect each other from the monsters that live in Yoshiro's closet." Amy displayed a picture of an ajar closet door. It was surprisingly daunting.  
  
"Today, however, something has gone terribly wrong: Fluffy has gone missing."  
  
"Where could he have gone? Who could have kidnapped him?" Amy sounded very concerned for Fluffy's well being. This made the story so much more captivating. She showed a picture of Yoshiro searching frantically for Fluffy in his room, with his feet poking out from under a bed. Socks were flying everywhere.  
  
"Yoshiro searched for his best friend desperately all day long. He is growing worried; the sun is setting." This picture showed Yoshiro sitting in front of his bedroom window, through which the setting sun can be seen, with his troubled face resting in his hands.  
  
"'Yoshiro, it's time for bed,' his mother called." The picture showed a woman with her hand next to her open mouth to demonstrate that she was yelling.  
  
"'No!,' he moaned. 'I have to find Fluffy!'" There was a picture of Yoshiro looking like a terrible mess. His hair was bunched up and sticking out in every direction, he was dirty, his expression was pained, and his fists were balled up at his sides.  
  
"'Fluffy?' she asked aloud, 'which one is Fluffy?'" The picture showed her puzzlement through her finger on her chin through the look in her eyes.  
  
"'Fluffy is my best friend, and he's gone!' He informed her." The picture showed Yoshiro shouting with tears falling out of his eyes.  
  
"'Oh! Him, I washed him today, he's not lost.' His mother told him." The picture showed Yoshiro running and smiling with his cheeks still wet from tears.  
  
"Yoshiro searched the laundry room high and low, but Fluffy was still nowhere to be found." Amy read.  
  
"'Where did you put him, mom? I can't find him anywhere!' he asked his mother frantically. 'I put him away, isn't he in your room somewhere?'"  
  
"'No!' Yoshiro wept again. 'He's not in my room! I checked everywhere!' 'Well, I know that I put him some place safe. Just go to bed, I'm sure that he'll turn up in the morning, there's no need to get upset.'"  
  
"'But who will protect him from the closet monster if I can't find him?!' Yoshiro pleaded with his mother." The picture showed a scene from Yoshiro's imagination; it showed you a gruesome cartoon picture of several gangly, warty, multi-colored, clawed hands pulling the poor Fluffy thing in several directions--the Fluffy thing had tears in its eyes.  
  
"'Oh! That's right!' his mother exclaimed, 'You just reminded me of where I put him! He's on a shelf in your closet.'" The book displayed a picture of the closet, faintly visible in the suffocating darkness.  
  
"Fear for his best friend's safety pierced through Yoshiro's heart. His mother flicked the light switch up and down a few times. 'Looks like it burnt out, I'll go get another light bulb.' His mother went off in search of a fresh light bulb."  
  
"Yoshiro stood just outside of the door, knowing that his best friend was in there, not knowing what horrors lay inside. His heart felt like it was going to explode. When he couldn't take another second of the thoughts of what could be happening to Fluffy, he ran into the dark closet." The picture was an absolutely horrible one, it showed Yoshiro running directly into the blackness of the closet, the contents was obscured by darkness. It made you feel that the boy was doomed.  
  
"He ran his fingers over everything in the closet, desperately feeling around for his estranged friend. He felt that at any moment he could touch the wrong thing and he would be eaten, partially or perhaps in whole. At last, he felt the familar texture of Fluffy's ears and he grabbed him."  
  
"Yoshiro and Fluffy ran out of the closet, and slammed the door shut behind them. They hugged each other tightly--they had never been more happy to see each other."  
  
"His mother returned with the light bulb. 'You have Fluffy, does that mean that you got him out all by yourself?' she asked him, beaming with pride."  
  
"Yoshiro nodded, beginning to feel a bit of pride himself. His mother hugged him. 'You have grown into quite the brave young man,' she told him. He and Fluffy went to bed, and they protected each other, but they never felt quite as frightened of the closet monsters again." Amy smiled while showing the last page with a picture of the stuffed animal and his pet boy sleeping in a bed together with the closet door closed.  
  
Amy set the book down in her lap. The crowd of children gladly performed the obligatory clapping and then settled down.  
  
"This book is by Emily Hayes, if you want to read other books by her she's in the H-A-Y's, or, you can get me to find one for you..."  
  
Inuyasha glanced off to the side, this was seriously not enough stimulation to hold his attention. He needed to yell, curse and beat something up. He wondered what time it was. Without even bothering to be inconspicuous, Inuyasha wandered off.  
  
He ended up at Kagome's desk. "Kagome, this is boring. How do you stand it all day?"  
  
Kagome shrugged. "If you're bored why don't you go read a book?"  
  
"Because that's boring too!"  
  
"Then go wander around for a few hours." She stamped the inside cover of a book and set it on a shelf.  
"Wander around this building? That would be stupid..."  
  
"No, I mean wander around Tokyo, just be back by seven-thirty." She stamped another.  
  
"Hey, that's a good idea... but, how will I know what time it is?"  
  
"Someone out there will know."  
  
"Bye, Kagome!" He told her as he ran out of the building and into the world beyond. 


	13. Plushes, lushes, and street fighting

A/N: Wow, catlover55 updated? Really? She updated? Am I dreaming? Yes. I updated. Did you lose all faith in me? Because that would be totally deserved. You know, there's no way that I'm actually going to respond to all of your reviews. Some authors do because they really appreciate the feedback, and so do I... but let's face it: I'm going to flake. I am going to make a bit of an exception this time. I would like to mention that I did write the children's story, and to my knowledge there is no such person as Emily Hayes.  
  
Inuyasha started down the sidewalk, gawking at the sea of people. He saw before him a myriad of stores. The stores sold things that ranged from practical to bizzare.  
  
One store was particularly puzzling: Sanrio Suprises. Everything in there was brightly colored it had many cute little things. Bright, pastel colors were everywhere.  
  
He picked up a large Kerope plushie and dangled it by the foot, staring at it.  
  
A clerk came running up to him, afraid that he might destroy something. "Can I help you?"  
  
"What's this?"  
  
"A stuffed toy." The clerk told him while wondering what a grown male who didn't work there could possibly be doing.  
  
"What's it do?" Inuyasha asked.  
  
The clerk grinned. He was gladdened that someone else doubted that there was any purpose to these dolls. He would depart from this world of luminous plushies with beady black eyes, but he needed the money.  
  
"It doesn't do anything." The clerk told him bluntly.  
  
"Do people buy them?" Inuyasha asked him, still holding the curious thing.  
  
"By the dozens."  
  
"Why?" He asked, giving to poor frog plushie a little shake.  
  
The clerk idly grabbed the Kerope doll and held it for a moment, before replacing it on the display. "I dunno. Girls like them."  
  
"Should I buy one for Kagome?"  
  
"Who's Kagome?"  
  
"She's this girl who refuses to marry me." He told the clerky with a suddenly glum face. "She's about yea high, and she's got black hair that she wears in a bun, and some teeny glasses."  
  
The clerk looked thoughtful for the space of a moment. "You wouldn't be talking about that mean old librarian from across the street?!"  
  
"Actually, yes. Are you thinking she wouldn't be won over by this stuff?"  
  
"I seriously doubt you could warm up that old bat..." The clerk told him ruefully.  
  
"Why are you so sure?" He asked. "Don't tell me you tried something on her..."  
  
"I won't tell you, then." The clerk confessed with a sigh.  
  
"So what happened?" Inuyasha asked with genuine curiosity.  
  
"Nothing," The clerk groaned. "She rejected me about thirty-nine times until I gave up..."  
  
"Oh, well, I guess I'll try other things besides um... these things..."  
  
"Bye... Goodluck..." The clerk told him rather distainfully.  
  
Inuyasha took a deep breath of clean air, and then went for another swim in Tokyo's sea of people.  
  
He wasn't paying too much attention to the people, he was simply walking down the sidewalk wondering how many other men Kagome had turned down. He was starting to wonder if she really was a lost cause. Inuyasha violently shook his head at the thought of giving up on Kagome. He mentally declared that after years of protecting her from others, it was time to protect her from herself.  
  
Sadly, Inuyasha was not watching where he was going, and therefore tripped over a young lady. She was about nineteen, a truly lovely specimen. She was about five-seven, with an ivory tint of skin, and tiny, pink lips. Her eyes were rather sleepy looking; mostly closed, but the visible parts were truly beautiful... dark and gleaming. Her hair was relatively short. It extended only to the base of her ears, it was not particularly soft looking, but sort of powdery in texture. It seemed like a dolls hair. She wore the apparel of a business woman. She had a gray jacket on over a pristine white shirt, heavily starched...  
  
She waited a few seconds for him to get off of her, but he seemed lost in thought... looking at something. She saw where he was looking... her chest.  
  
"Hentai!" She screamed as she pushed him off of her.  
  
"Hey!" He yelped as he came to his senses. "I'm not a..." but she had already taken to her feet and dashed off.  
  
Inuyasha felt his cheeks hot from a blush that was surely visible. He wanted very badly to get out of there... He ran ahead, weaving through people; shoppers, cops, joggers, students, old people, children...  
  
BAM! Inuyasha had carelessly knocked another person down. Before he could even mutter an apology the lower-middle-aged man shouted, "Watch it, Bitch!"  
  
The man was about thirty-five. He was well groomed and wore rather nice clothes, but despite all of his worldly trappings, he was rather ugly. He had a full and drooping stomach. His eyebrows were thick and were growing almost close enough together to form a unibrow. His nose was cruelly and permanently pushed up. He would seem to a stranger like Inuyasha that as an unborn child he must have had his face pressed too deeply into his mother's uterine wall thereby smashing his nose in in such an unseemly way. It would seem that way to someone like Inuyasha... if someone like Inuyasha were to think on such a strange level.  
  
"Don't call me bitch, bitch!" Inuyasha exclaimed, hopping up to his feet.  
  
By this time, the strange man was also on his feet. He gave Inuyasha a violent push backward. "I'll call you whatever I please. Kiss my ass!"  
  
Inuyasha was miffed beyond thinking. "You wanna fight, huh?" He delt the jerk a fierce right hook to the jaw.  
  
The man did not actually dodge, he was only able to take just enough of a step backward as to lessen the blow. He would not have any broken bones. "I'd fight you, but they'd convict me with murder." The man commented, smirking.  
  
"I'm willing to risk that!" Inuyasha declared as he moved in for his next strike.  
  
A crowd slowly gathered round. This busy sidewalk became full of silent, gawking, spectators. 


	14. Discovery

A/N: Yeah, I should like... I dunno... TELL you guys when I go hiatus. heehee

KRUNCH! Inuyasha kicked the man really hard in the ribs. The man grunted but still remained on his feet.

Whiff! The rude man swung at Inuyasha's pretty little face, but Inuyasha dodged it easily.

The crowd grew a hair braver and started to whisper to itself.

Angered, the man made another swing at Inuyasha. He threw all of his power in it.

Inuyasha, annoyed that the man had avoided humiliation thus far, caught the man's fist in his hand and laughed in his face.

The spectators started to sound confused and upset.

The strange man screamed in anger and swung once again, this time at Inuyasha's crotch using his free hand.

A hush fell over the crowd.

Inuyasha saw it coming and leapt backward.

The man was amazingly angry. In a blind rage he ran towards Inuyasha, screaming all the way.

"That's enough of this," Inuyasha declared with finally as he stepped to the side and punched the man squarely on the head. It was the same sort of punch that Shippo had grown accustomed to.

The spectators were surprised to see the man fall unconcious onto the sidewalk. Strangely enough, the silence lifted and they started to cheer and clap.

An older, staunch gentleman approached Inuyasha as if it was quite the ordinary thing to do. "Congratulations, you've beaten my prodigy, "The Colassus." Therefore, I have much to discuss with you--Let's walk."

"You're not angry?," Inuyasha said with surprise.

Inuyasha walked beside the gentleman down the sidewalk in the opposite direction of where he had started earlier. It was peculiar: a space in the crowd seemed to magically appear around them. Inuyasha didn't understand, but he didn't question it; It was nice.

"Of course not. You beat him fair and square, didn't you?" The gentleman said levelly.

"I guess..."

"The truth is that you've got a whole lot of talent, kid. I'm an agent, and I'd like to be your agent."

"I don't know. What kind of agent are you? If you work for that guy I just creamed, shouldn't you care enough about him to be taking care of him right now?"

"Oh, he's not important anymore. I'm sure he'll get the attention he needs. What's important to me now is you!"

Inuyasha kept walking but turned his face away from the man. He seemed like something of a heartless man. A man who would use people like tools and throw them away when he didn't need them anymore. Still, Inuyasha was glad not to be in trouble.

"You know, you could get into a lot of trouble for what you just did... If you signed on with my company you would be a celebrity. ... and celebrities never go to jail..."

Inuyasha swallowed nervously. "And what exactly is it that I'd be doing?"

"Fighting."

Inuyasha stopped, intrigued.

The gentleman smiled, seeing that he was starting to have a little sway over him. "You would get more money than you could ever imagine. The ladies will be all over you."

Inuyasha started to walk again. "Hmph! Now I know you're shitting me. You're trying to tell me that the ladies will be all over me even though have odd ears and eyes and claws?!"

"'The Colassus' had them, and did you see him? He was bug-ugly even before you messed up his face. Trust me, Japan will absolutely love you! It doesn't matter that you look a little weird--in fact, that even makes it better! Have you seen some of the weird crap they subscribe to?"

"So I can get paid for fighting..." Inuyasha grinned.

"Yep."

"I can get paid for fighting..." he echoed to himself, marvelling at the sound of it.

"Yep," The agent repeated.

Inuyasha snapped out of it, seeing that the sun was going down. "Hey, what time is it?"

The agent paused and checked his watch. "fifteen after seven."

"Oh crap! I have to go!" Inuyasha realized.

"Go where?!" The agent jumped in the new climate of panic.

"The library! I have to go to the library!"

"The library?! Are you some kind of college kid?" The agent put his face in his hands. That could be a major hassle.

"No, no! I have to meet someone there at seven-thirty."

"Oh!," the agent exclaimed with relief, "we're only a few blocks away, We'll make it. Is there a number where I can call you?"

"Uh... number?"

"A telephone number." The agent explained.

"um... well..."

"Then just tell me where you live." The gentleman was finding it difficult to mask his irritation. These fighters can be so stupid; they are painful to deal with.

"Right now, I am staying at the Sunset Shrines... but that could change."

"Who should I ask for?" The agent began to smile.

"Inuyasha."

"Alright! A great fighter who comes with a stage name already!" The gentleman agent raved.

Inuyasha swelled with pride. "I'll see you later." With that, Inuyasha sped away with his typical lightning speed.

The agent wiped a tear from his eye. "That boy is going to make me so much money." 


	15. Well, how many is it?

Inuyasha returned to the library with time to spare. There were still a few people there: all of them students, hurriedly taking notes from reference books.

"Five minutes until the library closes," Kagome called out.

The straglers packed up their things and slipped out one by one.

Inuyasha leaned up against Kagome's desk, still thinking about what had just transpired.

He snapped back to reality as he heard Kagome pick up her keys. He glanced at her passively. She was slipping her neat, black purse over her shoulder. "Come on, Inuyasha."

Smiling, he followed her out the door. After she locked the door behind them, they got into her car. Inuyasha had gotten surprisingly acclimated to riding in cars.

"So what did you do in the city, Inuyasha?" She asked casually.

"Not a whole lot..." He responded, trying to keep his new job a surprise. He didn't have a reason to do so--it was a whim. His could not, and did not make any effort to conceal is self-satisfaction.

Kagome pulled over. "I know that tone. You got into a fight, didn't you?" She was expecting him to be ranting and raving, overstimulated by the strange appliances of modern Tokyo. She was almost frightened by his cool tone.

"Yes. I did." He revealed his secret, unable to hold back a huge grin. "And do you know what? They're gonna pay me to do it!"

Kagome started to drive again. "Who's going to pay you for it? Who did you get into a fight with?"

"Well, there was this jackass. Somebody told me after the fact that his name was "The Colassus", or something like that, and then they asked me if they could be my agent."

"Wow!," Kagome exclaimed, "I'm not into wrestling, but even I've heard of him."

"He wasn't any big deal. What kind of stupid name is "The Colassus"?"

"He was a wrestler, Inuyasha, they all have stupid names like that. It's all about showing off. Most wrestling is fake, but the fighting in that league is real. People get seriously injured... You're going to have great fun."

"Kagome..." His tone of concern indicated a change in topic. "I went into this store across from the library, it had a bunch of what I guess are toys... and there was this guy there..."

Kagome knew where he was going with this. She kept her eyes on the road.

"...he said that he had asked you out... like thirty-nine times....," he continued.

"Yeah... I know who you are talking about." Kagome confessed.

"Is he the only one?" Inuyasha asked.

The tension was thick. Kagome didn't respond for a few seconds then she admitted, "No... he's not."

"...how many were there?"

"Inuyasha, it's not like I said yes to any of them, what's the big deal?," she asked, getting riled.

"How many were there?," he repeated.

"a lot."

"Like 3 a lot, or 7 a lot, or 20 a lot, or..."

"A lot, a lot!" her temper flared.

"Touch-y!" He cut her off. "All I wanted was a number."

The car stopped. They had arrived.

Kagome was glaring so much that there ought to have been two holes burning through her windshield.

Inuyasha unbuckled his seat belt and opened the car door.

"So... Kagome. What're you doing tomorrow?"

He got out of the car but continued to listen to her with the door open.

"Working."

"At the library?"

"Yes."

"See you there!" He pretended to sound excited to sit in the book museum for yet another day.

Kagome made a miffed sound and Inuyasha closed the door.

As Kagome backed out, Inuyasha waved so flamboyantly Kagome essentially had to wave back.

Once Kagome was gone from sight, Inuyasha entered the shrine. Mrs. Higurashi was sitting on the sofa, tissue box in lap, watching another wussy movie.

"Hi, Mom! I'm home!" He cheerfully declared.

"Shh!"

He was surprised at her dissmisal. "Mom, you'll never guess what happened to me today!" He tried again.

"Shh! I'm watching this!" She stared even more intensely into the television screen.

He stared at her a moment, then he sighed. He looked at the TV, curious as to what could be more important than his news of impending stardom. There were two women in a log cabin, and a few children as living scenery. It was snowing outside. "Oh Katie, sometimes I feel as though this winter shall never end! We shall starve and die for sure!"

Inuyasha cocked his head to the side at this show. They didn't appear to be dying, why all the yowling and bawling?

"You mustn't worry, my child, God will provide. Somehow we shall survive this harsh winter." The slightly older woman reassured the younger one.

Inuyasha sighed. This was so stupid. This would be like... voluntarily listening to Kaede for hours on end.

"Come get me when you're done with this, I have something to say." Inuyasha called as he was walking off.

"Shh!"

Inuyasha's eye twitched.

#RING# #RIIIIIIIIIIIIIING# "Just in the middle of the good part!" Mrs. Higurashi shouted as she picked up the phone.

"Yes... he's here..." She looked puzzled. "Inuyasha! It's for you!"

Inuyasha picked up the phone.

"Say hello!" She prompted him.

"Hello?"

"Yes, Is this Inuyasha?" It was the agent.

"Yes..." He marvelled over the oddity that is the telephone.

"I wanted to discuss the terms of a contract for you."

"Oh... um... what?"

"You are the guy that beat up "The Colassus", right?"

"Yes."

"Why don't I just come over, and we'll go over the terms at your place."

"Um... okay..."

"bye, Inuyasha."

"bye."

"Now hang up the phone." Mrs. Higurashi instructed him.

Without waiting for him to figure it out, she took it from him and did it for him. "What was that about?," she asked. 


	16. Don't I get a say in this!

After a more than thorough discussion, Mrs. Higurashi was completely stoked. "Oh this is so great! I'm going to have a famous son-in-law! And of course, this means that you'll be living in the modern era! Maybe you can convince Kagome to live with you." 

Inuyasha shook his head while laughing at her.

Mrs. Higurashi proceeded to talk to herself. "Who is that on the T.V.?" "Oh, why I believe that's Inuyasha." "Yes, it is, that's my son-in-law!" "Really? The great Inuyasha is your son-in-law?"...

Inuyasha drifted away from her as she continued to act out the scene to herself. She couldn't wait for him to be famous so she could brag to her friends. Of course, this wasn't going to distract her from her main objective: to get some grandchildren. She was already concocting ways to use this to her advantage.

Suddenly, the agent came through the front of the shrine. He took off his shoes. "Ahh, there you are!", he exclaimed as he caught sight of Inuyasha.

Mrs. Higurashi just then noticed the agent. "I'll get you some tea," she said as she rushed off to the kitchen.

Inuyasha and the agent moved over to the kitchen table. The agent opened his briefcase and took out a thick, many paged document. "This is a contract that states the number of fights you will take part in this year, and the where you will be required to make appearances. You know, to sign autographs and stuff. Publicity gigs... of course, all of this stuff is subject to change."

Inuyasha flipped through the document, not really reading it. "So, these are all the fights I can get into?"

Seeing where Inuyasha was going with this, the agent was quick to respond. "These are just the fights you are required to get into. If you get into more fights that aren't in the contract, that you just decided to get into, we'll just look the other way... if you know what I mean..."

Inuyasha looked suspicious. "So, what's in it for you? Why are you doing all of this stuff for me?"

"Oh," the agent said, turning to page 35 of the document, pointing to a specific passage. "As you can see," he read aloud, 'Mr. Yomuri, for arranging Inuyasha's affairs will be entitled to fifteen percent of the aforementioned clients wages.,'" He then explained it in simpler terms, "for my services as your agent, I get 15 of your wages. Is that acceptable to you?"

Inuyasha smiled, money was all this guy wanted, they were both going to be swimming in it... not to mention, Inuyasha was going to be allowed to fight to his heart's content. "Yeah, sure. So, how am I supposed to get to all of these places?"

"Transportation will be provided for you by the wrestling league. In fact, there are a number of perks to your contract which I'm sure you will go for. One of them is a two-week paid vacation in March."

Inuyasha nodded contently, thinking about fighting.

Listening from afar, Mrs. Higurashi made her appearance. "Inuyasha is going to need a longer vacation than that, how about five weeks, in a more temperate month... like July," she suggested as she set a few cups on the table top (safely away from the document).

Subtley, she sat down at the table and took a listen to the wheeling and dealing of the agent.

"Well," he explained. "I don't think we can spare him for five weeks in the summer... how about four weeks in December?"

Inuyasha watched his future mother-in-law dealing with his future agent, facinated.

"Hmm...," she thought, "That would give him time for a nice Christmas with his family," (She was thinking of Kagome... and some possible additions... but Mr. Yomuri didn't need to know that he didn't have a family yet.) "but he could still use some beach time in the summer... how about two weeks in December and three consecutive weeks in the summer, any month, you pick..."

"Yeah, that's do-able! How about December 17th through December 31st, and June 7th through June 28th? Of course, there will be other times when he won't be working, but they won't be paid vacation."

"That'll do! Let me just read over the contract for a moment." She declared merrily. He made the changes to the document to include the changes in vacation time that they had discussed with a black pen before handing it to her.

She skimmed the pages relatively quickly and smiled more and more the further she went. "You've got yourself a deal, Mr. Yomuri!," she exclaimed as she stuck out her hand for him to shake.

"Alright!" He shook her hand. "You drive a hard bargain, Mrs... ?"

"Higurashi," she informed him.

"I guess we're done here. I'll call you when it's time to get ready for your first match, Inuyasha."

"Hey! Don't I get a say in this?" Inuyasha piped up.

"Um... sure. What did you want to change or add?" Mr. Yomuri turned to him, listening intently.

"... well...," Inuyasha thought. "...nothing really. I just wanted to have a say."

"Okay then." Mr. Yomuri shook Inuyasha's hand. "Sign here, and I'll call you when it's time to get ready for your first match."

Inuyasha signed the contract and Mr. Yomuri went on his merry way.

Inuyasha picked up his cup of tea. He sighed and drank some of it. "So when is my first fight, anyway?"

"Tomorrow." Mrs. Higurashi answered.

"Tomorrow?! That's soon!"

"What, don't tell me you had plans already?"

"Just to hang out at the library with Kagome."

"You'll probably have time for a bit of that."

"Well... I guess that's okay." He thought aloud, finishing his tea.

Mrs. Higurashi began preparing dinner as she spoke with him. "So, are you making in headway in your relationship with Kagome?"

"I'm not sure." He confessed as he set his head on the table.

"Well... Is she on speaking terms with you?"

"Yes."

"Then you're making progress."

"...but, I think she's mad at me."

"Okay, why don't you think of it this way: Are you better off with her now than you were this time last week."

"Well, last week I hadn't spoken with her in almost twenty years... so... I guess so."

"That's the spirit, son! You'll get me a grandchild in no time!" She grinned at the thought of a cute little boy or girl for her to cuddle, take to the park, show off to her friends, and spoil in general.

Inuyasha let his head go limp in a comic fashion. He couldn't allow himself to forget that she was just using him as a means of getting grandchildren.

He picked up his head as he smelled food being cooked. "Is that... ramen?" He perked up with growing anticipation.

"Why yes, it is." She smiled.

He grinned as she approached him, bowl of ramen in hand. It was pork flavored ramen.

"You are the best mom ever!" He declared before slurping down his noodles.

"Soon to be the best grandmom ever." She nudged him, and he nodded. She smiled knowingly. It was a frightening smile. It was a "haha! all of the pieces are falling in perfectly, my evil plan will soon be complete" smile.


	17. Prematch fight makeup

It was now Tuesday, a day whose only merit so far was its uneventfulness. He wasn't making a whole lot of headway with Kagome. He had waited around the shrine for much of the afternoon and then walked down to the library. He hadn't wanted to spend the whole afternoon in that boring stifling environment. He had gone down there for about an hour and a half that day. He wandered in and out through every section, Amy was not there today. Kagome told him that she had the day off today. Amy took Tuesdays off. What neither the stuffy librarian nor Inuyasha knew was that she spent Tuesdays with the man known as Ichiro. Some things Kagome was better off not knowing. 

Inuyasha had paced through the juvenile section, there was storytelling, but it was by a geriatric old woman, and he was simply not interested. He returned to Kagome's desk for he had nothing better to do. He was not going to do any reading.

"Whatcha doing, Kagome?" He asked when she was obviously stamping books and placing them on a shelf. "Stamping these books in..." she replied without looking up.

"Uh huh..." he feigned interest. "I'm having my first match today." He swayed back and forth as he spoke.

"Already? Good for you." Her demeanor was disinterested because she was still rather miffed at him.

"You gonna wish me luck?" He scooted up towards her a bit.

"Sure, good luck," she glanced up at him.

"Are you going to give me a kiss for good luck?" He pressed, getting even closer.

"You'll be fine." She insisted as she pushed him away from her desk with her stamping hand.

Shrugging, he left her desk and began the walk home, trying to remain nonchalant about everything.

Kagome pushed her glasses up her nose and continued stamping, groaning with slight irritation.

When Inuyasha arrived at the Sunset Shrines a few moments later, he found there was a limo waiting in the street in front. Mrs. Higurashi was standing outside conversing with the driver.

Inuyasha ran up to her brimming with excitement.

"Inuyasha, this is a big day! I'm sure you'll do wonderfully. These people are going to take you to the match, and they'll take you here afterward. Good luck!" She doted and kissed him on his right temple.

Inuyasha laughed, realizing the irony of this. The chauffeur opened a door for him, and he got inside.

He was silent during the ride. It was interesting to be treated in such a way, (although he wished it were Kagome who would pay him special attention), but he rather wished he could just walk there.

When he got there, however, he understood why the car was so important. This place was packed with people swarming everywhere. Some even pressed their faces against the windows, trying to see who was inside.

Soon enough they had driven around through some gates and they were no longer being swarmed.

Inuyasha was escorted through an unmarked door on the back of the building. He was surprised at how well lit it was. The room was full of people, it seemed to be in a happy state of total chaos.

"Inuyasha?" A young female approached him.

"Yes..."

"Nice to meet you, my name is Yoko and I'll be in charge of your make-up. This way please." She bowed and directed him to a make-up table. As she pulled out a compact full of foundation he felt alarmed.

"Hey, wait a minute! You're going to give me a make-over?" His asked incredulously, feeling his masculinity being threatened.

"Well, not a make-over, just a bit of make-up so that you look good on camera. I wouldn't change you, cutie. Where did they get you, anyway?" She stroked his bicep lovingly.

Inuyasha drew back. "No way. You ain't putting that girly shit on my face. No way, no how!"

"But you have to!" Yoko protested, placing a hand on her hip. "It's part of your contract! We can dress you up any way that we want!" Yoko had been through this routine before.

"I am NOT a woman!" He stood up and argued, "and make-up is for women, therefore you should not put make-up on my face. "

Yoko could have argued this better but she did not have the patience. "Listen, no make-up, no costume, no fighting, comprende?"

Inuyasha sat back down and let out a low growl.

He didn't like the smell of the powder that she applied liberally to his face and neck. He hoped that this was worth it as he watched the mirror as she colored his face almost the exact color that it normally was. "Why on earth are you doing that?" He practically exploded because she put foundation on his lips and then put a pale, flesh-colored lipstick on his lips.

"because that's what you do..." was her only response, he did not ruffle her feathers at all.

She however, ruffled his feathers plenty. "Close your eyes," she instructed.

"What the hell is that!" He practically fell out of his chair in squirming away from her.

"It's mascara."

"Well, it's not going on my eyes!"

"Just on your eyelashes," she corrected.

"No, it's not!" He insisted.

"Just a little bit?" She pretended to be considering his wishes but then foolishly tried to put it on him despite his protests. This knocked them both to the floor.

The mascara bottle was made not to pour out onto them, but the applicator brush scraped against his skin and made a black striped pattern over one of his eyes.

"Why did you do that!" Yoko shouted in rage.

"Why did YOU do THAT?" Inuyasha quiped.

"Are you almost done, Yoko? I need to get started on his hair." A short-haired man approached her.

"No, but I would have been! Look at his face! I have to take it all off and do everything all over again!" Inuyasha went rather pale. All over again? And then someone screw up his hair? This fight had better be worth it!


	18. Rising Star

Inuyasha stepped out into the ring already furiously angry. That hair guy had touched him and called him "fabulous" way more times than he was comfortable with. 

The crowd booed at Inuyasha; 'cheater!' they yelled, disbelieving that an amateur would beat the legendary Colassus, and 'you stink!' and a great many other cat calls. He now wanted to thrash every person in that arena. That could take a while. If that were his job, he would deserve all of the money they were going to give him. However, he had been given specific instructions not to harm or threaten any member of the audience. Glaring was ok though, so he was doing a lot of glaring.

The lights dimmed and raucious music played, announcing the returning champ. Someone on the level of Colassus who the announcer and the audience clearly thought would cut Inuyasha down to size.

He flicked the Tetsusaiga's hilt, bringing it up a bit out of the sheath. He was surprised that they had let him keep it with him. They had kept calling it his "prop". He was pretty pissed about all that. They told him that the other wrestlers would have props too, and that they were allowed to use things like that. They couldn't use knives or guns, but they figured since Tetsusaiga was so rusty it wasn't all that dangerous. Inuyasha hadn't bothered to tell them that it could transform because A, he was fighting humans so it wouldn't, and B, they wouldn't believe him anyway.

"... our returning champion Isaac Isotope! A real blast from the past who is really 'da bomb'..." Inuyasha paid little attention to the voice that boomed from overhead. He was tempted to burst out laughing at the "fighter" who strutted out in front of Inuyasha, issuing corny, themed ultimatums.

He had a red-orange flame-like haircut, which seemed to defy gravity. Inuyasha figured the hair guy had spent a lot of time on that particular piece of "art", so he was really looking forward to screwing it up. The man had a leather jacket on, but no shirt and no pants or shoes. He had some underwear to match his flaming hair... with a symbol that inuyasha didn't recognize. Modern day people know that it is a primative represenation of an atom, but Inuyasha knew and cared nothing of this.

Before the man was finished talking, Inuyasha stepped forward and socked him really hard in the face. He flew across the ring and was out cold before he even landed.

The crowd was flabbergasted for a moment. "It seems our challenger, a_real _blast from the past, all the way from feudal times has blasted Isaac clean across the ring. A real no-nonsense fellow, folks! He knows..." the announcer went on blabbing but he was drowned out by the roaring and chattering of the crowd. So much for their loyalty, he thought.

He was full of awe at the sight of his own face on the big screen, thenat the sight of "Isaac Isotope" protrayed laying limply on the ropes. It was so much bigger and more glorious with loud music and pyrotechnics. Ordinarily, Inuyasha would not take pride in winning such a fight. Now that the people were shouting his name however, he held up a victory sign and let them take all the pictures of him they wanted.

There were several more matches that Inuyasha took part in that night, a series of outrageously themed ones. Inuyasha found that the crowd loved it even more when he mocked his competitors while walloping them. He decided it was worth it after all. It was easier than shooting fish in a barrel, but he didn't feel like a bully because all of those fish _insisted_ upon being in the barrel and taunting him.

There was one match Inuyasha did not take part in. He found it most peculiar. The participants did not seem like fighters at all. They were scantily clad women who got into a pool of brown muck and pulled the clothes off of each other. It made Inuyasha feel a little like he didn't belong in this place, like it was rather phony... however, when they were shouting his name so lovingly, he felt like he could entertain them for a while longer...

After a few hours, it was over. As the crowd cleared out, folks with microphones and cameras drew near, coming at Inuyasha and a few others with a barage of questions.

"So, Inuyasha, tell us about how you defeated the Colassus?"

"Um... I bumped into him on the sidewalk and he tried to beat me up."

"Inuyasha!" another person called out, "where is it that you came from? Have you always lived in Tokyo? Where were you born?"

"I've lived in Edo and Tokyo!" Inuyasha declared, "I was born near Edo!"

Everyone who was listening laughed, thinking how cute it was that he insisted upon staying in character. It made people wonder about him even more.

"That's funny. Inuyasha, are you married or single? Dating anyone? Or are you still avalible?" A female asked, winking as she held out her microphone.

"Well, I'm trying REALLY hard to get married to this woman named Kagome, not dating her yet, but I'm not ever going to give up on her..."


	19. Ichiro's Insight

Inuyasha looked at the photograph again but quickly turned it back over. It was hard to pick out the smell of any person in particular in this crowded city... so, embarassingly enough, he had asked for directions. He should be almost there now, ahh there it was. The Kireiyama apartment complex. One apartment seemed completely vile to him; it so noisy that its sounds could be heard by ordinary people on the street below, and the whole complex had some strange smoky smells. He hoped to stay as far away from it as possible. As he followed the numbers he began to have a sinking feeling that he was indeed headed for that very place. As he walked through the hallway of the rat and roach-infested apartment complex, he found an object he could not identify, (it was a syringe) and stepped over it. His ears were flattened against his head to slightly combat the noise, to his great dismay the numbers matched up. Surely there had to be some sort of mistake. Amy wouldn't bring him to a place like this, would she?

He knocked on the door.

No-one answered.

He knocked again.

No-one answered. They probably couldn't hear him.

Inuyasha pounded on the door.

A man, well... a teenaged boy came to the door. "You here for the party?" He asked, clicking his tongue stud up against his teeth.

"I'm here to see Amy... do you know an Amy?" Inuyasha was unsure about going in here.

The teenager shrugged and walked away from the door, leaving it open.

Inuyasha stepped inside, "AMY! AMMMMY! Hey Amy! Are you in here?" He shouted, keeping his ears pressed tightly against his head. It was so much louder inside. He felt like he was going to pass out soon if he had to endure this noise and these smells formuch longer.

"Hey there, Inuyasha!" A woman with greased-down but still curly red hair approached him, waving. Her eyes were obscured by sunglasses, even though this room was extremely dim. There was a man standing awkwardly beside her.

"Amy, how did you intend upon discussing Kagome here? I can barely hear you over all of this racket." He asked incredulously, even though he didn't like to use such a tone with Amy, she didn't seem like Amy.

"Well, she can't listen to us here, come on, let's sit down."

Inuyasha groaned in frustration and pain, now placing a hand on each ear. He wished he could cover his nose too, but he only had two hands.

Amy plopped down deeply into the middle cushion of a crusty old couch. "Hey! A new batch of brownies!" She declared in great excitement as she picked one up and shoveled it into her mouth.

Trepidaciously, Inuyasha sat down on the edge of the couch, he didn't really want to touch the couch, but he really didn't want to be touching the floor, and he felt like he couldn't stand up anymore. The man seemed to be doing the same thing.

"You want some?" she asked Inuyasha.

"Um, no," he said, shaking his head emphatically. Out of the corner of his eye, he seemed to see the other man smiling at him. It wasn't a creepy smile. It was one of... solidarity and reassurance.

"Okay..."

"Amy, tell me what you know about Kagome and why she won't marry me." He cut straight to the point because he had been forced to perk up his ears to hear her over the tremendous racket.

Amy giggled at him as though what he asked was terribly silly.

"I love this song," she said, as she eagerly staggered to her feet. She grabbed one of the dials on the nearby stereo system and turned it up. It made a loud schreeching noise.

Everyone in the room covered their ears, but quickly recovered when that horrid squeal stopped.

"Amy what's wrong with you!" Inuyasha yelled, grabbing her arm.

The other man turned the sound back to how it was, in fact, a little lower.

The sunglasses slipped down to the end of Amy's nose and revealed her bloodshot eyes. Amy giggled uncontrollably as Inuyasha let go of her in surprise.

"Look at me! I'm a head librarian!" She shouted triumphantly as she pushed her sunglasses back into place, knocked them back down and then nudged them again.

The man approached Inuyasha. "Just ignore her, no-one except her stoner friends can talk to her when she's like this."

"This is just great!" Inuyasha growled, "Now who's going to help get Kagome to marry me?"

"Well, I don't know why you'd ask Amy." The man seemed to think that Amy was the last person to help with something like that.

Inuyasha looked at him in a bit of confusion, "Why do you say that? And by the way, who are you?"

"My name is Ichiro, and I'm Amy's "friend"." He said with a twinge of annoyance.

"Hey, I thought you were her boyfriend or something..." Inuyasha remembered Amy saying something about him.

"Yeah, well... I was. She and I were boyfriend and girlfriend. I thought I was doing everything right! I was very proper and good to her. The day came when I thought we were ready so I proposed to her, then she BROKE UP with me. And, well, I could have dealt with that... but a few weeks later she called me up. She seemed to have changed her tune completely. We... did things... but then when I tried to kiss her... she pushed me away and said we were "just friends... with benefits." "

"That's so stupid..." Inuyasha grunted, "That's stupid on the level of the stuff Kagome is pulling..."

"Who's Kagome?" Ichiro asked as he moved closer to Inuyasha, taking Amy's spot.

"Um... you've met her the librarian who..."

"Oh her!" Ichiro cut him off, "You know, I'd like to blame her for all of this change in Amy... but I guess I ought to have done something..."

"So hey, you seem to know plenty about all of this. Maybe you can help me. I want Kagome to marry me, but she claims that love in general isn't real."

"Oh that's just bullshit."

"Yeah, I know..." Inuyasha agreed.

"She doesn't really believe that, you know. She's just like Amy. She believes in love but she's afraid of it. She's afraid of getting burned. They both trust us so little that they think as soon as they say 'I do', we'll keep them prisoners in their own homes, take advantage of them, and not love them anymore... you know, I've really had it up to here with Amy!" Ichiro raised his hand way above his head.

"Well, what should I do to make her trust me, Ichiro?" He asked intrigued by the new insight he provided.

"Why are you asking me?" He asked in a sour voice. "I obviously do not have the answer to this."

"Ichiro!" Amy whined as she stumbled back over to them.

"What?" he asked in tremendous annoyance.

"Let's go... " she motioned towards the bedroom of this slummy apartment.

Ichiro groaned and stood up with Amy clinging onto him. "Okay, whatever."

"Ichiro, come and talk to me later. Right now you're the best friend I've got. I don't know my telephone number but if I'm not at a match I'll be at the Sunset Shrines or at the library."

"Kay... see ya, dude." Ichiro waved slightly, and kind of smiled as Inuyasha also stood up, only he was going to leave this place ASAP. The ground beneath his feet was throbbing from the treacherous bass. He moved to put his hands over his ears again but it actually hurt to touch them.

Amy led Ichiro away, giggling and squealing merrily.

"Bye, Amy..." Inuyasha glowered at her, but did not solicit a response. 


	20. I know you're not a detective but

Today was a day to leave the pantsuit in the closet. Perhaps she could not dress as a woman, but little girl was a role with which she could be comfortable. She sifted through her things, many of them were modest and business-like. Still, she managed to find a quaint little floral affair. It was fairly prudish, but all of her things were... that was okay with her. She slipped it on, its cool cotton felt nice upon her smooth, pampered skin. 

As she tied the bow on her back, she pondered the situation she was stepping into. Her mother had been a little strange on the phone. It was weird, even though Inuyasha was still there at the shrine, it was as though she was no longer concerned about the grandchildren thing. Sota and his wife were making a visit. This was also quite unusual. They did not live around here, and were not the spontaneous type. Kagome thought she would have heard if they were planning a visit.

She hadn't heard as much from Inuyasha as she had figured she would. Perhaps he really was going to become a big star and forget all about her. That would be fair... it really would. He was a wonderfully nice guy, and modern day Tokyo might be just the place for him. What if he were really into it? What if liked those slutty female wrestlers... she certainly couldn't compete with them. No. Inuyasha was not like that at all... he could have changed, she supposed... but... she refused to believe that.

Kagome had to dig all the way to the bottom of her closet to find some casual looking sandals. "Roman sandals" they were called... 'How old are these?' she thought as she eyed them skeptically before putting them on anyway.

"There! Playful!" She declared to herself before stepping in front of a full length mirror and instantly retracting the statement.

She was still a prude in a pink dress. She grimaced... she needed to do something else... nothing crazy... but she would NOT let Sota be right! She would not let her little brother be right about the fact that she was no fun...

She let her hair out of its stuffy bun. It fell down limply around her back and shoulders. It seemed very unnatural.

Okay, Sota could be right... but he would not get to know about it! She vowed to herself as she put it into a ponytail halfway down her back.

To her dismay, she realized she looked a hell of a lot like Kikyo. She had not thought about Kikyo in literally decades. Why now? She did not need this kind of stress! That was quite possibly the last thing she wanted, to look like Kikyo!

That was it, she had to make herself look very different from Kikyo!

Kagome settled upon wearing pink lipstick and gave up on all of those thoughts... her mother was going to be making oden... so it couldn't be a total loss.

"Momma, I'm here! Where's Inuya-" Kagome called as she entered the shrine.

"Shh!" Mrs. Higurashi cut her off, "Keep the noise down... Inuyasha hurt his ears..."

"Oh no..." Kagome breathed.

"Go ahead and sit down in the living room with Inuyasha... your brother and sister-in-law will be here momentarily... hey isn't that a new look for you?"

"Yes, but don't breathe a word of that to Sota."

Mrs. Higurashi shrugged and returned to the kitchen. Kagome entered the living room. Sure enough, Inuyasha was there... but he seemed very wilty. He had one ear down and one ear out to the side. Inuyasha had a constant headache. He kept both of his eyes closed, and he would have had both ears down, but his right ear (which had been nearer to the stereo) actually felt like something pointy inside were poking out strangely, keeping him from moving it freely or even wanting to touch it.

When Kagome entered the room, Inuyasha opened an eye and said... "hey Kagome..." fairly weakly.

"hi..." she responded quietly, sitting down.

For fifteen minutes more, Kagome and Inuyasha sat together in the living room, in total silence, fifteen feet apart.

The doorbell rang and Kagome sprinted to get it. Still, Kagome's mother beat her to it.

"Sota, Aiko! So good to see you both." Mrs. Higurashi declared as she threw a tight hug over each one of them.

"I hear Inuyasha is in town, does that mean you're gonna marry him this time, sis?" Sota asked in a teasing voice of Kagome (who was standing by the door).

"So, what are you two doing here anyway?" Kagome asked, trying to move away from that question.

"Geez, I know you aren't a detective, Kagome, but come on!" said Aiko, who had a strange relationship with Kagome. She took the role of sister-in-law very seriously and insisted upon tormenting her as a sister would.

Kagome scowled.

"Okay, work with me here, finish my sentences. Sota and I are both..."

Continuing to glare Kagome said, "doctors."

"Uh huh... and your friend Inuyasha is..."

"under the weather...?"

"Okay, I'll accept that... and what else?"

"half dog-demon..." Kagome responded, already seeing where this was going.

"Good girl, Kagome. So you solved the riddle. Your mom didn't want to take him to a real hospital about his ears because that would definitely reveal to the world that he wasn't human..."

"Aiko, that's enough." Sota stopped her. "Sorry Kagome, Aiko had a terrible train ride so she's cranky. There was a kid kicking the back of her seat for two-hundred miles." This was especially bad for Aiko, who had no liking of children whatsoever.

"Oh, Kagome said, realizing that even on the bullet train that was still a long way, "well, thank you for coming." She took their coats and hung them up.

"So, where's Inuyasha hiding out?" Sota asked, looking forward to seeing him again.

"He's in the living room," Mrs. Higurashi announced to him rather encouragingly.

Sota ran off to the living room and found him immediately.

"Hey there, Inuyasha!" Sota could not contain his excitement.

"Hi there... who are you?"

"Sota! Silly!"

"No way... you're tall." He said gruffly.

"Yeah, I know..." Sota laughed in embarrassment. "Oh, and this is Aiko, my wife." he introduced her, seeing that they had all followed him into the living room.

"Hello," Aiko said, bowing. "I'm going to take a look at your ear, if that's okay..."

"Yeah, sure..." Inuyasha said uncomfortably.

Aiko took a penlight out of her pocket and looked inside his ear. "ooh, you busted it..." she said sympathetically.

Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. "How does one 'bust' their ear?"

"You busted your eardrum. Were you around some really loud noise, Inuyasha?"

"Well, yes..." he conceeded.

"Yeah, thought so..." Aiko said as she began rifling through her bag she pulled out a few metal instruments and some gauze.

Inuyasha looked over at her uneasily.

"Oh don't worry, it's not really going to hurt..." Aiko reassured him.

"I was not worried." Inuyasha defended his honor.

Taking the plastic off of a pair of forceps, she gently stuck them in his ear.

"What are you doing... Aiko?"

"Well you see, your eardrum burst with such extreme force that fragments of it became lodged in your ear wall... the inside of your ear that is."

"Okay, guys... you can stop gawking at them." Sota pushed his mother and Kagome into the kitchen. "We'll meet up with you guys in a little while." He called to his wife and his childhood hero.

Aiko nodded in agreement without looking at him.

When they were all in the kitchen, Kagome asked her brother why he hadn't done it. He then explained that it would just be too weird. He would have done it if it came to that... but hey, it would not be weird for his wife, who was not only a perfect stranger to Inuyasha, but also a whole lot less shy than he was.

It occurred to Kagome, that her sister-in-law was perfectly content being married to her brother. Even though Aiko liked to tease, she really was a nice lady. She would not steer Kagome wrong.

They caught up for a little while, and then Inuyasha and Aiko entered the kitchen, so they all sat down to have some oden.

"So, Inuyasha, I heard you were a big famous wrestler now. When's your next match, so I can get tickets?"

Inuyasha blushed hotly and laughed... "Next week... I don't have another match until next week." He had perked up considerably since Kagome had last seen him.

"So, Inuyasha..." Kagome was about to ask a question that had been bothering her.

He gave her his full attention, which made her choke on her words a bit. "How exactly... did you hurt your ears... what was so loud? Was it at the match?"

"Um... no..." This was a sticky situation. It had been a secret meeting with Amy... about Kagome... and even though he was mad at her, he would not rat Amy out to her boss.

"I uh... went to meet a friend at a place... and it was really noisy, I didn't stay long..."

There was a bit of a lull for a moment and the sense that it might really be fruitless became overwhelming.

"Um... guys... I think I may go back to the sengoku jidai... you haven't beaten me yet, Kagome... but... you know... it's quiet there so..."

"My apartment is quiet." Kagome piped up anxiously.

It was all her mother could do to keep from clapping her hands with glee.


End file.
